Animorphs 34 ALTERED
by Lost soul
Summary: Hi again! I'm here with some news, and to get new readers into the altered series!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
  
I tried to push myself back up from the ground. I couldn't, I was laughing too hard. Laura had just made Courtney fall over, with her ultimate watch, that sped up her molecules so fast it made it appear to her that time has stopped. Courtney's look as she fell was pure terror and anger, a mix that just didn't come out seriously enough on her face. She doesn't do the whole anger thing well.  
  
WHUMP!  
  
Courtney was down, and Laura had just moved across her living room in less than millisecond, or that's what it felt like. I leaned on the green chair for support. My face was growing red, I couldn't breathe. I clutched my stomach. It was the funniest thing to see. Of course it wasn't so funny any more when one second I was standing up, the next I was on the ground and it was Laura's turn to laugh.  
  
"Hey!" I yelled.  
  
"Not so funny once it happens to you is it?" Courtney pushed.  
  
Laura had no reply, she just kept laughing, while Courtney's dog, Cody, went running around the house like a maniac because of all the commotion.  
  
Maybe I should back up and explain why we had the watch in the first place.  
  
Yesterday, we were sitting in my room, you know, a normal get together. But that was the last thing it turned out to be. We were talking about Lord of the Rings, and I said 'I think Lord of the Rings really happened', and as weird and impossible as this sounds, we got sucked into and alternate universe where it really happened. It really happened. Frodo Baggins was real. Aragorn was real. Moria was real. Mordor was real. It was all real, right down to the last ounce of blood and emotion. And, well, we all had to help save Middle Earth from Darkness. We did okay, well, battle wise, our friendships with everyone wasn't a 100 percent, they didn't really like us. At Lothlorien, however, Lady Galadriel (an elf) gave us CD players and CDs, with a help of Elven magic. But, at the gift giving us three got another gift, a watch. The watch. We didn't know what it did at first, until I pressed the button and well, time 'stopped'. And from there everything went downhill.  
  
About three days later, we all got split up. Laura with Frodo and Sam. Courtney with Gimli, Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, and Gandalf (Whom we had saved from the Balrog). Me, with Merry and Pippin. Laura did her thing with Frodo, you know, help them to Mount Doom (fun), Courtney and them all were looking for me and Merry and Pippin, and us, just wandering around with no real task. When Courtney and me meet back up, we stole two horses from Rohan, used the watch, rode to find Laura, found them, destroyed the ring, and then in a battle, I died.  
  
And you're probably like, ok, you died, then how come you're in a living room laughing at people. Well, not really, in the Alternate Universes, you die, and then you come back to your real universe. That was cool for me, until I thought about that I had been in the alternate universe for about seven months, when I discovered I'd only really been gone for about 7 minutes. A month equaled a minute. So I waited, a minute later Courtney popped up. She had died because Legolas had accidentally shot her with three arrows. She thinks he did it purposely. So we waited and waited until Laura came back like 25 more minutes until she showed up, she died of hypothermia/drowning after she made it back to the Shire. But the only thing that really surprised us was that on Laura's hand was the watch. Oh man, was it the watch. It was a gift, and boy it could classify as a curse.  
  
My three-day weekend was having a seriously bad start.  
  
Up I went, down again. Too fast for me to realize what was happening until it was over. Okay, this wasn't funny anymore, and I knew just how to end it. I waited until Laura had come down from hyper time. Then:  
  
"I think Animorphs really happened!" I yelled. I was tackled to the ground faster than I could think.  
  
"You did not just say that," Laura breathed hard.  
  
"You bet I did."  
  
Silence.  
  
And then the changes began.  
  
The world swirled around us. The colors all started to mix, as if they were in some sort of blender. We all clung to each other. There was a tremendous wind, and we were barely able to hold our positions. The color was gone, just cold blackness. Then, everything stopped. There was silence, and we were left in the blackness. Just as soon as it started, colors came back in; the wind picked up again. It all finished. And we were far from home. In fact, we were sitting in a field. Courtney and Laura glared at me. Time to break the silence.  
  
"I guess we're not in Kansas any more Toto," I tried for a weak smile.  
  
"I can't believe," Laura began, "that you said that."  
  
"Well, if you hadn't been messing around with that watch," I motioned to her wrist, "then I wouldn't have had to say that."  
  
"Well that watch isn't here any more," She said.  
  
Courtney's jaw and my jaw hung to the ground. We were in an alternate universe where the planet was being taken over by mind bending aliens and we were weaponless?  
  
Again?  
  
"Oh, this is not cool!" Courtney interjected.  
  
"We've been down this road before," I pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, but Laura at least got us weapons within the first day or two!"  
  
"Would you guys stop fighting?" Laura asked. She seemed to be calm. It figured. She enjoyed this action sort of stuff. But I thought that after her first time that this sort of stuff would be over. Oh well, she lived for this stuff. She never wanted to be normal. Now she has a chance to take action, she's the unofficial leader. She was the FDR of the group. She made the shots. She made the calls. She made plans. Which was fine by me, I'd rather take orders than give them out.  
  
"Look," Laura continued, "we need to find out where the hell we are. Then we can fight about what to do." Court and I looked at each other, nodded mentally, then looked back at Laura. It sounded like it was a good plan. Take action, and still get to annoy the crap out of each other down the road? Ok. Yeah. That was a good plan.  
  
"Okay, you want to be leader, go ahead," I told her, in all sincerity.  
  
"I never said I wanted to, Lisa," She snapped.  
  
"I really meant it," I said. "I don't want to be a leader, and I'm pretty sure Courtney doesn't want to either."  
  
"Yep," Courtney agreed. "Besides, you took action in Lord of the Rings, we almost followed what you said as long as we were together."  
  
Laura sighed. Then smiled, but not all that noticeably. I knew she loved doing this. "Alright, lets go find them."  
  
Who she was referring to was of course, the Animorphs. A group of five kids and an alien out to save the world from aliens who live in people's head and take absolute control. The human has no free will to do anything, but sit and watch as the Yeerk (the alien) takes who they hold dear to them into the Sharing. A front organization that act like some boy scout group for kids who want to straighten out their lives, but once you become to a full member, they take the trip down to the Yeerk Pool every three days. They are a human controller. The only weak point these aliens seem to have is that they have to feed every three days on Kandrona rays, a sample of their home sun, in order to stay alive.  
  
The Animorphs learned of the invasion by a dying andalite prince named Elfangor. And he told them (Jake, Cassie, Tobias, Marco, Rachel) that he can give them the power to morph. To turn into any creature who's DNA they could acquire, for only two hours at a time or be trapped in that morph. It wasn't much, but it was enough to put a pain into the Yeerk's side. Aximili- Esgarrouth-Isthill, more commonly known as Ax, Elfangor's brother, joined later, after Tobias was turned hawk forever.  
  
A group of six children to fend off an alien invasion to take over the world that can turn into animals. It's not much, but kids can do amazing things.  
  
We walked across the field towards a house. I was pretty sure it was Cassie's house, an animorph. The Yeerk's didn't know where she lived or who she was, or else they resistance would be gone. Secrecy was the key.  
  
"Call me dumb or something for asking this," I said, "but what are we gonna tell her once we get there? 'Hi, we're from an alternate time line, know who you are, and are here to help'?"  
  
"I'm pretty sure it's just you guys who know about them," Courtney added. "I'm not real big on Animorphs."  
  
"It's beyond the point," Laura interjected. "We're here to help anyway, whether they like it or not." There was silence up until we got to the door; Laura rang the doorbell.  
  
"Lisa, queen of bull shit, your game," She told me.  
  
Peachy.  
  
"Alrighty then, I'll just think of something super fast." The door opened, it was Cassie's mom. Show time. "Uh, hi, I'm Mary Ann, and we're Cassie's friends from school. We were, uh, wondering, um, if its not too much trouble that is."  
  
"To speak with her?" She finished.  
  
"Yes!" I yelled. Oops. I lowered my voice. "Yes, we were just in the neighborhood, and you know as kids these days, always like to stop by for surprises."  
  
She gave us a skeptical look, but turned and got Cassie. I looked at Laura, "Never ever make me do that again." She and Courtney laughed.  
  
Cassie came to the door. "Yes?"  
  
"Uh, Cassie, remember that report we were supposed to finish tonight? You know, the one where we needed more information?" Laura asked her.  
  
Courtney leaned to me. "Do they always act like this in the books?"  
  
"You get used to it."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Meanwhile, Cassie was catching on. "Oh yeah, the one where we were supposed to find out about those new explorers we were learning about? Oh, my God! I can't believe I forgot about that!" She leaned in the door. "Mom! We're going out to the barn, won't be out there too long!"  
  
We took off towards the barn at a very fast pace. Once we were inside, Cassie shut the door and turned on the lights. We took seats on the bails of hay. Cassie turned to us and said:  
  
"Who are you?" 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Courtney and I turned to Laura. She called me the queen of bull shit? Yeah right, I learned from the best. Laura was gonna lie like there was no tomorrow to hide our secret and become friends with them. I shook my head. We were so good at making friends.  
  
"Who are you?" Cassie demanded again.  
  
"We, uh, well, I'm not sure how to put this," Laura said, "but we know who you are."  
  
"You know who we are?" Cassie asked. "Yeerks?"  
  
"Nope," I said. "Something just a tad bit worse."  
  
"What could be worse than the Yeerks?"  
  
"Us."  
  
"Okay, I'm not sure where you're going, but I know you're not the Yeerks, or I would be dead or captured by now," Cassie mused.  
  
Courtney leaned toward me again. "Well, we're making a better start than we did last time."  
  
"Are you kidding? Another time line, different people, this is the start of bad."  
  
Laura motioned Cassie to take a seat. She did. I walked up to Laura. "Uh, I think out of all the members, Cassie's gonna understand us the most."  
  
Laura nodded. "I'm gonna be up front with you. We're not from this time line. Or this universe for that matter."  
  
"Doing a great job of explaining there," I said. "A first grader could have explained that."  
  
"Shut up Lisa, like you could do better," Laura shot back.  
  
"Yeah, I could." Oops. Regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth.  
  
"Be my guest." She stepped aside. I sighed and stood in front of Cassie.  
  
"Uh, right. Ok, what she said. This may sound like the work of the Ellimist, but it's not. This is for real. About ten minutes ago we were sitting in her living room," I jerked my finger toward Courtney, "and I said a couple words I probably shouldn't have said and we ended up here. In another time line that shouldn't exist. Where aliens invade people's minds. And this isn't the first time we've been transported to another universe. Yesterday, our time, we were transported into an alternate universe where Lord of the Rings really happened."  
  
"Lord of the Rings?" Cassie asked. "But that's just a."  
  
"A book?" Courtney asked. "Yeah it is just a book, just like you're just a book series in our timeline."  
  
"A series?" Cassie said. "Wait, I'm just a character in some book in another time line?"  
  
"Yes, and well, frankly, we don't want to be here," I said. "We want to go home. We just want to get back to where we came from."  
  
"Well, why don't you?"  
  
There was a pause. We all knew, but did we want to tell her?  
  
Laura spoke up. "We have to kind of, uh, you see, you know, we have to die."  
  
"Die?"  
  
"Die."  
  
"Die."  
  
"Die."  
  
We all confirmed.  
  
She was silent. Dead silent. Then:  
  
"I'm really sorry, I'd like to help you, I don't even know how you found me, but I can't. We can't," She explained. "The Hork Bajir."  
  
"What about them?" Laura asked.  
  
"Jara Hamee, he was just here, he told us."  
  
"The Arn were here?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah, but how'd you know?"  
  
"You're just a book series." Laura.  
  
"Well, if this is gonna play out how I think it's gonna play out, you're gonna need some extra help," I confirmed.  
  
"Bingo," Laura whispered.  
  
A few minutes later, Cassie had made us a comfortable spot in the hayloft for us to stay while she went to find the others. The lights were out, but we could still see. There were still lights from civilization around here, unlike in Lord of the Rings, where the only light you got was the moon, and sometimes you couldn't even see that.  
  
"So, what's gonna happen?" Courtney asked. "I've never read the books. What are we getting into?"  
  
"Well, the Arn created the Hork Bajir, and he wants to start another free colony on the Hork Bajir home world," Laura explained. "Most of the Hork Bajir race are tools of the Yeerks, except for the free colony in the forest."  
  
"I see, so what are they going to do about us?"  
  
"They're gonna get together, fly this way, and while flying they're gonna talk it over, whether we're worth the frustration and time. They had a bad time with making a new animorph before. And they most likely will decide ok, they can't leave us here while they go to the Hork Bajir home world, too much risk. We'll get the power to morph, go with them, and out of all possibilities die," I said simply.  
  
We were silent. Okay Lisa, that was a great thing to say, I thought. Raise the spirits a little.  
  
"Yeah, but hey, at least we can go home, right?"  
  
Murmurs of agreement. Ok, everyone was getting home sick and thinking about dying. Maybe not the time for a joke. Just let them rest Lisa, I told myself. They'll be in a better mood in the morning.  
  
We slept that night, not that sleep came easy. I woke once, about an hour after we had gone to sleep, and the barn lights were on low. There below us was the animorphs, having a meeting, about us, and maybe about the Hork Bajir. I considered going down from my position, but decided against it. I saw a glowing, a blue glow. The blue box, the morphing powers source. Its light mesmerized me. It was so comforting, so full of energy, and more importantly it held the key.  
  
If we were going to make it in this world, we needed that box. We needed that power.  
  
I rolled back over, and went over the book in my head. Suddenly, the talking stopped, as if someone had told them to stop. It was Tobias. From his look out in the rafters he had seen that I was awake. He had told the others to stop talking. I closed my eyes, and slept.  
  
  
  
I was the last one to wake up in the morning. Laura and Courtney had obviously been up awhile chatting. I tried for a light mood.  
  
"So, you save me any sausage or bacon?"  
  
Courtney laughed. "You had enough in Rivendell."  
  
"Hey, but I did give Laura that last plate," I smiled. They were better. Great, I hated when they were down. We couldn't afford to be down. We had to be up to win. "So, what's the deal? What's going to happen?"  
  
Laura answered. "You want the short version?"  
  
"Well, as long as we have detail in the short version."  
  
"Ok. Cassie was up here this morning. They all talked it over last night, Cassie convinced them to let us join. She said, 'she had a feeling'. So, we're going to a different planet, and getting the morphing ability."  
  
"Well, that's good news," I said. I looked up. Tobias was watching us. "Do you think he would mind if I talked to him?"  
  
"As long as he has had breakfast," Laura said. "I do not want to mess around with a hungry, stressed bird."  
  
I nodded. "Well, no way to tell for sure.Hey! Tobias! What up my bird friend?"  
  
The piercing hawk gaze looked at me. So, your Lisa?  
  
"Hey! He knows which one I am! Laura, did you hear that? He can tell us apart!"  
  
He laughed in our heads. Yeah, with these eyes I can see anything. There's a tiny mole next to your eye, Lisa.  
  
"There's no mole!"  
  
Hehe. That's what you think.  
  
"Want to come down?" I asked.  
  
Can't. I'm on watch. Cassie really seems to like you guys.  
  
"That's Cassie," I sighed.  
  
Yeah. It is, Tobias agreed. You know, I really don't feel all that bad about you. You seem to be ok.  
  
"That's because you just met her," Courtney interjected. "You just wait until you get to know her!"  
  
"Same goes for them too," I quickly said.  
  
Tobias laughed again. You guys are just a couple of idiot teenagers, who know everything.  
  
"Very good way to some it up," Laura agreed. Then, "What time is it?"  
  
About 4:30, you guys ready for a spin in the air? He asked.  
  
"About as ready as you can be," Courtney muttered.  
  
Well, come on and get down, Cassie's coming. She's going to give you a lesson before we all head out.  
  
We all scampered down the ladder. We stood next to each other, feeling pretty important. Laura prepped us. "Okay you guys, just don't go nuts, hate to die before I even get to see a Hork Bajir."  
  
"Oh, that would be a tragedy," I laughed.  
  
Cassie came in, Ax was behind her. Ax was an andalite. He looked like a deer for his lower half, and then his chest was human, with way too many fingers on his hands. On his head was no mouth, slits for breathing, two almond shaped eyes, than two more on the top of his head planted on stalks. They could turn any way he wanted them too. His tail was long, mostly muscle, and at the end was a blade, a tail that could move faster than the eye could see, and chop off one of your limbs faster than I could say "uh".  
  
He held the box.  
  
Press your hand on the square closest to you, He instructed.  
  
We did, and there was a tingling sensation. I tried a line from the Lion King.  
  
"Oooooooooooh, it tingles."  
  
You may remove you hands. We did, and he pulled the box away.  
  
"Well, I don't feel any different," I said.  
  
Cassie showed us three injured birds. A golden eagle, a coopers hawk, and a merlin. She told us to choose. Courtney wanted a fast one. She took the merlin. Laura, for some odd reason wanted the coopers hawk. And I was left with the eagle. The fire power. I was the Calvary.  
  
We pressed our hands against them, and felt their DNA go into us. Our first morph. Man, I had waited for this day all my life, and I had waited for these words:  
  
"Alright, boys and girls, let's morph," Cassie said smiling. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
"So, uh, sorry to sound dumb, but how do you morph exactly?" Courtney asked.  
  
Cassie began to answer, but I cut her off. "I'll handle this one. First off, you are dumb, so I don't know why you added that part in."  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"The truth hurts Court," Laura said.  
  
"You concentrate on the animal you want to become," I explained simply.  
  
"You simplified that so I understood you didn't you?"  
  
"Yep. You're dumb remember?"  
  
There was silence in the barn. Cassie watched us. Ax watched us. Tobias was ready to take action if the morph took control. I closed my eyes and pictured the eagle. The changes began. First thing to change was the feather patterns that appeared over my skin like a sketch. But then, they became 3D, popping up all over my skin. Within 30 seconds brownish-goldish feathers covered me. Then, I shrank. I fell towards the ground. I kept expecting to hit it, but I stopped just before I hit. I was a human, just over a foot tall, covered in feathers.  
  
"Well, this looks attracEEEEEEaaaaaaaaaa." I started to say as my mouth bulged outwards, hardening to become the hard yellow, wicked sharp teeth of a golden eagle. My ears shrunk and moved up the side of my head.  
  
SNAP! My arms switched directions to form a wing. My eyesight sharpened. I could sharpened. I could see the individual grains of dirt on the barn floor. I could see the different millimeter gashes and holes in the walls. But more importantly, I could see a hawk. And I was feeling hungry. The golden eagle's brain kicked in. I tried to flap my wings, I tried taking flight, but something was stopping me. Something was stopping me!  
  
Ahhhhhhh! That was me. Oh man, that was freaky. Right out of a Stephan King novel. Attack of the bird mind!  
  
Yeah seriously, Laura agreed. Just remind me to demorph in privacy, I'm covered in my own clothes.  
  
What? Are you afraid I'm gonna look? I asked.  
  
Yeah.  
  
Why would I do something like that?  
  
Because, you're you.  
  
We laughed, while Cassie removed our clothes from around us, and we stretched our wings. Courtney remained silent. In fact, there was a wild movement where Courtney's clothes should be.  
  
Well, I laughed, Courtney doesn't have control of the morph.  
  
Earth to Courtney, Laura tried. No answer. Houston, we have a problem.  
  
Why don't we pull an Ax? Tobias laughed. Please reassert your individual consciousness.  
  
Ax snorted. As I seem to remember, you were the one having the problem controlling the fly morph.  
  
Tobias remained silent. It was time for action. Laura, you know how Court bruises easy?  
  
Yeah, She replied, then chuckled. Think it still applies in morph?  
  
Nah, why would it? Take a whack at her, your closer.  
  
Laura flutter-hopped her way over there, because let's face it, a bird and walking just don't mix. She flapped her wings, to gain some altitude.  
  
Okay, Tobias coached, Adjust your tail feathers a little, that's it. Just a little higher. That's good. Now, just kind of float on down there with enough speed.  
  
Let me give you a picture on what was happening here. The cooper's hawk is twice the size of the merlin, and Laura was about six feet off the ground, racing down at a steady pace. The outcome? Odds, let's say, were not in favor of the merlin.  
  
Impact! Ouch. A rude awakening for Courtney.  
  
Owwwwwww! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! She screamed in our heads. Who the.what the.uhhhhhh.  
  
So glad you could join us Courtney, I laughed.  
  
Oh that was not cool! She continued to rant and rave. The bird mind was in control! I can't believe you talked me into this! Wait until I get my hands on you.  
  
That's the beauty of it, I said. You don't have hands.  
  
Well, then, I'll.I'll fly at you!  
  
Hahahahahahahahaha, This time it was Tobias in our heads. A merlin against a golden?  
  
Damn it, Courtney mumbled. You'd think I'd be used to losing by now.  
  
"Okay, we've wasted enough time," Cassie told us. "You only have two hours in morph, or else."  
  
Or else you end up like me, Tobias said grimily.  
  
Well, boys and girls, I said brightly, start you engines!  
  
We all flapped our wings, and took off towards the opening in the barn roof. Well, that didn't exactly work, because, let's face it, a golden eagle has a six-foot wing span, you can't exactly get another bird through there.  
  
No wait! Tobias said. Not all at once. Courtney, first you, then Laura. Lisa you go last, you're the biggest.  
  
I forgave him for being snappish, he had the most flying experience, and we had zip. Courtney took off, a little shaky, in fact, really shaky.  
  
Oh my God! I'm a bird! I am flying! I am going off the ground!  
  
Hey, just don't look down! I offered.  
  
Oh, that's real funny. I'm a.what the hell am I? I'm a bird with like, damn good eyesight. Don't look down?  
  
Well, she eventually made it out of the barn with Laura following. Cassie quickly morphed osprey, while I took flight.  
  
Easier said than done.  
  
I flapped my wings, and man, those wings were powerful. Within in a couple flaps, I was out of the barn. That was the easy part. The hard part was staying in the air once you got there. I kept flapping my wings in fear of falling. I was quickly tiring out.  
  
Jeez, you guys, chill, Tobias laughed. You're a bird. You're a bird in the air, you're not going to fall. Just relax, ride some breeze up, altitude is everything.  
  
So I instantly stopped flapping my wings, felt myself drop a little, but then there was a breeze under my wings and I soared up. I felt the bird mind, he knew how to fly. I let him take over some. The bird did most of the flying. I did the talking.  
  
I know that I'm going to annoy someone with this, but, Off we go, into the wild blue yonder, flying high, into the sun.  
  
I was silenced when Cassie joined us. Great, time for the 4-1-1. Okay, spread out, She instructed. You don't want to attract the attention of people on the ground. Birds of prey don't usually fly together.  
  
We spread out. Why don't we go ducks? I asked brightly. I mean, they can go long distances, and fly together. Not to mention they make a really cool quaking noise.  
  
Lisa? It was Laura. I expected to be yelled at.  
  
Yeah? I replied shakily.  
  
That is an excellent idea! She yelled. What beautiful idea! That's the most coolest thing.  
  
You're making fun of me aren't you?  
  
What, because you say the dumb stuff? Yeah.  
  
Well, sorry to change the subject, Courtney interrupted, but I was kind of wondering if you guys were as scared shitless as I am.  
  
I replied, Scared? Why would we be scared? Just because Laura and I have a lot more guts than you, can endure more pain than you, can put up with more crap than you can.  
  
So, I'll take that as your petrified, Laura summed up.  
  
You bet ya! But why would I let that ruin a perfect morning?  
  
We continued to fly around for close to the two-hour limit. Just around the area, and we were able to test our morphs. We flew back to the barn and demorphed. She gave us some skin tight clothing to morph. Cassie then told us some more stuff. I wasn't paying attention. I already knew what she was talking about. She held up a jar.  
  
"There are flies in here," She told us. "You have to acquire one."  
  
"A what?" Courtney asked. "You want me to acquire a what?"  
  
"She wants you to stick your hand in the jar," I explained, "touch a fly and acquire it."  
  
"She wants me to stick my hand in the what? And acquire a what what?"  
  
"Listen if you're going to be a baby," I sighed, "Laura can go first."  
  
"What!?" Laura exclaimed. She looked at us, then gave up winning over us. "Fine, I'll be the adult here."  
  
"Okay mom, you go right ahead," I joked. Laura put her hand in the jar, and after much difficulty managed to touch a fly, and you know, acquire its DNA. It was my turn to do so, so you know, it was gross purposely touching a fly, but I didn't let it show.too much. Finally it was Courtney's turn. She put her hand in the jar.  
  
"Ew, ew, ew, gross, gross, gross," She repeated over and over again with her eyes clothes. She was never going to catch a fly.  
  
"Court? Open your eyes," I instructed.  
  
"No thank you!"  
  
Well, she eventually did catch the fly.  
  
Cassie told us it was time to for the others to start arriving. Then we would head to the free Hork Bajir valley. She was about to fill us in on all of that, but I stopped her. We didn't need to hear information we already heard.  
  
I leaned to Laura. "Do you think we should tell them that."  
  
She didn't let me finish. "Nah, why bother?"  
  
The others animorphs arrived, demorphed, and we all remorphed to head to the valley. It was great to be an eagle again and soar in the sky. But what was kind of obvious that they were keeping us out of the conversation, a thing that you can do with thought speak. I tried it out with just Laura and Courtney.  
  
Hey, who can hear me? I directed my speech to Laura and Court.  
  
Me. Courtney.  
  
Me too. Laura.  
  
Okay, only direct your thought speak to us three okay? I said.  
  
I was doing that, Laura replied.  
  
Okay, Courtney agreed.  
  
So, Laura, what's the plan? I asked.  
  
Me? Why do I automatically be the one with a plan?  
  
Because you're the one who found out we're in an alternate universe, I told her.  
  
Okay, fine. I want to see the Hork Bajir, go to the planet, then die, and go home, She stated.  
  
Are we even still sure that dying is the only way we can go back? Courtney asked. How do we know it's not a one-time deal?  
  
Laura sighed. It's the only thing we have going for us now.  
  
Ok! I said cheerfully. Ladies, ride with bravery! For tonight may be the last time you ever see earth! I paused then, Or, er, what you can consider earth, but its not really earth.but you get the point.  
  
Just then, Jake's voice was in our head. Okay, the valley's up ahead. You guys don't freak out, the Hork Bajir may seem fierce, but they're kind and gentle. Don't forget they have a small vocabulary, and talking to a regular one is like talking to a first grader. Toby is a seer. Talking to her will like be talking to any one our age, and beyond. Just. Don't. Freak. Out. They may appear dangerous, but kind and sweet. I repeat kind and sweet.  
  
You obviously haven't heard about the sort of people we've run into, I muttered. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
We landed in the valley and demorphed. That was when I met my first real Hork Bajir. And man, did they scare the hell out of me.  
  
"H-he-hello," I stammered. The Hork Bajir grinned. I wanted to run home screaming 'mommy!' at the sight of that grin.  
  
"Friend?" He asked. At least, I think it was a he.  
  
"Yes." I replied just a simply. I back toward Jake and the others.  
  
"Laura?" I hissed. "Laura?" She wasn't near the group, she was off near the caves examining the creatures in awe. I shook my head. I turned to Courtney.  
  
"Is it me? Or does she need a hobby?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
So anyway, Toby ushered the animorphs toward the Arn, because let's face it, we did know anything, even if we did read the book. Reality is way different than imagination. So we just picked a tree, sat down, and talked. Like always.  
  
"So, what's up?" I said conversationally.  
  
"Oh nothing," Courtney replied, "except for the fact that we're in an alternate universe surrounded by aliens who could, at any moment, decide us as enemies, and slice and dice us before we have a chance to say 'no'!"  
  
"No, you were right the first time," I smiled. "There is nothing up. This is all normal."  
  
They gave me a halfhearted smile. Okay, so the joke wasn't that funny. I tried again. Sometimes it stinks being the one expected to come up with the jokes a hundred percent of the time.  
  
"So, they either go this way," I said with a lisp, pointing to back toward the city, "or this way," I pointed to the sky. Man, Ice Age was finally coming into play.  
  
Courtney laughed. Laura joined in. "They'll head north about two hours from now." She carefully translated the words to fit our discussion and situation. I laughed. Courtney laughed again.  
  
"Courtney," I demanded, "is that all you do? Do you just laugh? I mean, I'll crack the slightest joke, and if you even find a shred of it funny, you'll go insane, and you'll start laughing like Scooby-Doo. Rrrrrrrr-he-he-he-he-he-he!"  
  
Well, I'll give you ten guesses on what happened. "He-he-he-he." Followed by, "It's not funny! I do not sound like that."  
  
"Rrrrrrrrrrr-he-he-he-he-he." I said again. I laughed. Courtney laughed. Laura laughed. Hell, we all laughed. What could you do? We were in an alternate universe, surrounded by aliens, and most likely die. What could you do? Sit and wait for death to come, or just make the best of a bad situation. I looked up. Cassie was walking over.  
  
"Ruh-oh," I said.  
  
She squatted down. She opened her mouth. "Uh, you guys, listen."  
  
"They're going to perform some ceremony to get Aldrea to come back, take over another person's body, so that the Arn can find the weapons to start an attack on the Hork Bajir home world, using the DNA collected from the Hork Bajir at the valley," I replied quickly.  
  
"Yeah," She sighed and smiled. "How'd you know?"  
  
"Do you really have to ask?"  
  
"No," She answered. "Do you guys want to come? But if you do, you risk a chance of being chosen."  
  
"No thanks!" Courtney said automatically.  
  
"Sure," Laura and I both chimed in. Courtney's jaw hung.  
  
"Well, if they go, I go too."  
  
Cassie got up and chuckled. "You guys are weird, but trustworthy. I'm glad that Jake, you know." her voice lowered, ".we've had a bad time with new animorphs before. I'm surprised he even let you in."  
  
"Well, why did he then?" Laura asked. "He has a good reason not to let schizophrenic's on the team. We're the one who claims we went to an alternate universe. And one member of the new team has a brain problem."  
  
"Hey!" I argued.  
  
"No, the reason he let you join is because he had a dream. And three girls were in it. He had a good feeling about them in the dream, so when I told him about you guys."  
  
"Very strange," I said.  
  
"Yeah, so anyway, you coming or what?"  
  
We all headed towards one of the caves in the valley. There was the animorphs, the Arn, and Toby in the cave. All was set up for the ceremony. Tobias was near me.  
  
You know who gets chosen I take it, He told me privately.  
  
I nodded my head.  
  
Can you tell me who?  
  
I slightly moved my hand toward Cassie.  
  
But Cassie didn't volunteer, Tobias persisted. It's just Rachel and Toby who did. Aldrea can't just take someone who didn't volunteer, can she?  
  
I shrugged.  
  
This is deeper than we thought. Oh well, we always do tend to go for the things that are insane, dumb, and way over our heads.  
  
I wished I were in morph so that I could talk to him. I wouldn't mind adding to the conversation. I heard a breath in my head, and I expected Tobias to say something, but he didn't. What could that mean. I waited, then:  
  
You enjoy the morphing power? it was Tobias.  
  
I shrugged.  
  
Yeah, I guess you haven't exactly had it long enough. And so far you've only morphed eagle. You don't really know.  
  
I nodded.  
  
You want to morph again?  
  
I nodded.  
  
What?  
  
In my mind flashed pictures of what I wanted to become. Bird. Tiger. Dog. Hork Bajir. Andalite.  
  
I motioned toward Ax and Toby.  
  
An alien? Tobias laughed. Yeah, something out of the ordinary would be cool. I morphed Hork Bajir and Andalite, both very neat. Maybe out of this you'll get a Hork Bajir morph.  
  
I laughed. Courtney looked over. "What are you laughing about?"  
  
"Oh you know," I replied quickly, "thinking about how insane our lives have gotten since we were transported here."  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, sure has."  
  
I didn't want to morph Hork Bajir. I wanted to morph Andalite. Don't ask why, just something feeling deep inside told me to morph andalite.  
  
So anyway, Tobias fell silent as we watched the Arn perform the ceremony thing. He started to repeat a couple words, he fell silent. The cave shook, Cassie was knocked forward, she chose to accept Aldrea, and that's when Aldrea first was able to make contact.  
  
Cassie was the translator for her. Aldrea hadn't figured out how to use her speech centers yet. Cassie translated that Aldrea was basically mad at the Arn, wondered where Dak (her love) was, and some other things. This wasn't our business.  
  
I moved toward Laura. "So, can we like leave? There isn't a reason to stay."  
  
"But we'll miss the action!"  
  
"Laura, even you know that this is a tad boring, especially since it will just be Cassie talking."  
  
Laura sighed, then accepted defeat. I smiled. I was right, I love be right. We left the cave. Jake and the others didn't object. This was animorph business, and let's face it, we were the outcasts.  
  
"So, why'd we leave?" Courtney asked.  
  
I replied, "There's nothing to hear, or see."  
  
"What do you mean hear or see? We are in an ALTERNATE universe! There are aliens! ALIENS! What do you mean there's nothing to see? What do you mean there's nothing to hear?"  
  
"So, in other words, you're glad we got out of there."  
  
"Yeah, it was like math. You can't pay attention. You just fall asleep."  
  
I laughed. We headed toward a tree. I considered morphing bird again, just for the hell of it, but decided against it. Laura started a nonsense conversation.  
  
"You know, I could go for a pizza right now."  
  
"You're telling me," I laughed. "I could eat a large all by myself."  
  
"A sub," Courtney offered.  
  
"Stuffing," I continued, "a big juicy, greasy cheeseburger, a nice, cheesy grilled cheese sandwich, a greasy, pizza, some nice, wonderful chicken, sweet, glorious french fries."  
  
My mouth was dripping will saliva. I was in a dazed state. Me rambling about food was not doing my hunger any good.  
  
"Lisa, if you don't stop," Laura said, "I'm going to have to silence you."  
  
"Oh, I'm quivering with fear," I replied.  
  
"You know Lisa," Courtney shook her head and told me, "you've picked a hell of a time to be sarcastic and crack bad jokes."  
  
"Look, I'm sorry. I'm just kind of tired of being expected to be witty, and funny. I'm not like that all the time. And the one time I choose to be sensible, you guys get on my case about it."  
  
"You weren't like this in Middle Earth," Laura pointed out.  
  
"I was blind by fear. I was trying to forget what was happening."  
  
"Is this any different?" Courtney asked.  
  
I couldn't answer. I enjoyed it here too much. I wanted to make a good impression. I wanted too bad to look good. Laura grabbed my shoulder and yanked me toward her. "Look, in Lothlorien, you told me to just deal. I didn't want to go home because of psychopaths, and I like Middle Earth too much. You told me that you and Courtney still needed me. I dealt. Now I'm telling you the same thing. Just because you like it here doesn't mean that you abandon us. We need you to be funny. We need the humor in the darkest hour, to let us know that everything's going to be ok. Just deal."  
  
Our eyes locked. Jake in the books always pointed out that a leader wasn't allowed to show fear, or confusion. They just weren't. They had to portray what their soldiers wished they could be. Laura was being that person I wanted to be. She was our leader. What did she think of me in Lothlorien when I told her to deal? What did she think of me at that moment in space and time?  
  
Courtney decided to add her own thing. Not nearly as effective as Laura's speech. "We still need you Lisa. We still need you. Don't quit."  
  
I couldn't contain myself, I laughed. "You know how funny that was Courtney? Laura goes through her big thing," I did an impression of her, "'We still need you.'"  
  
"There was nothing wrong with it!" Courtney replied. "I was telling the truth!"  
  
"It just sounded funny," I persisted.  
  
Laura started to join in the laughter. "She has a point Court."  
  
Well, Courtney was so taken back by the fact that her well thought out speech was bad, it took her a minute to understand why it was funny. But she eventually joined in with us.  
  
These guys were my family. I needed them, and they needed me. We were going to get each other through whatever hell we were about to enter.  
  
And in the end, no matter what happened, I knew that they were going to be there for me. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
The animorphs and Arn piled out of the cave. Everything that they had to do had been said. Now, their imaginations were going, trying to predict what was going to happen when they got to the Hork Bajir home world.  
  
We all morphed and flew out of the valley.  
  
Okay, Rachel and Cassie, better get Aldrea prepped with Cassie's morphs and maybe some things that are happening, or what she needs to know, Jake instructed.  
  
Okay, we're on it, Rachel agreed. She and Cassie flew down to the woods.  
  
Tobias? Ax? Watch them, Jake then said, but be careful that they don't see you. Tobias and Ax tore away. All that was left was us five.  
  
So, I guess you guys are going to need some morphs, Jake said.  
  
Uh, yeah, whatever you say, I told him.  
  
Okay, let's gain some altitude, and go to the Gardens, There was a pause, he was obviously telling Tobias and Ax where we were going. What sort of morphs do you think they need Marco?  
  
Oh, I don't know, maybe a battle morph, Marco offered. What else could they need? Well, here's a better question. What morphs do we all need?  
  
Jake laughed. I'm not sure. We're going to a different planet, maybe earth animals aren't the best way to go.  
  
Well, we're already on our way, I said. Let's pick up a battle morph.  
  
Cassie hook you up with a bug?  
  
Ewwww, Courtney shuddered. Yes. A fly.  
  
Welcome to the glorious life of an animorph, Marco told them.  
  
We flew some while, until the Gardens came into view. The Gardens was a zoo/amusement park. According to some people, totally cool. I didn't see what the big deal was about.  
  
So, you guys know everything about us, Jake said.  
  
Yep, Laura confirmed.  
  
How much does everything cover?  
  
A lot, She continued.  
  
Oh, that's brilliant Laura, I laughed. A lot. It covers a lot.  
  
Sounds like one of Marco's explanations, Jake told us.  
  
Well, it's not my fault, Marco argued, I just.just.well.  
  
You just lack a little mentally, Jake finished.  
  
But I make up for that in cuteness, He smiled. Or, well, would have smiled if he had lips.  
  
We all laughed. Then stopped from the realization that we were all laughing at the same thing. Then laughed again. We all made it to the bigger exhibits at the Gardens, and circled down.  
  
All right, we land, demorph, get inside the exhibits, and grab an animal. I suppose we'll break up into two groups. Me with Laura, because she seems to be the, uh, leader.  
  
Yeah, glad you could pick up on it! I 'smiled'. The 'supreme, over powering, ultimate, glorious.'  
  
Lisa, Courtney stopped me. Yeah, she's the leader.  
  
Okay, her, Courtney, and me in one group. Marco, you're with Lisa.  
  
Gotcha. Just a question, why?  
  
Marco, do you have to ask so many questions? Just deal.  
  
That made me think of Laura's speech.  
  
Okay, no problem big Jake.  
  
We swooped down, in a Dumpster near the water park area of the Gardens we demorphed. We were a mess of kids, wearing spandex and t-shirts, without shoes. It was the homeless look.  
  
"You know, we really do need to get those outfits," Marco said. "We don't even look like super heroes. If someone were to walk up to us, they wouldn't even believe that we were saving the world. They'd think we were insane. Now, if we were wearing, I don't know, some snazzy, cool looking outfit."  
  
"You'd be able to pick up some girls, right?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah. If some girl walked by now, and saw me in a Dumpster? She wouldn't be like 'whoa, check him out', no she'd be like, 'gross'. How am I supposed to live with the humiliation if someone from school walked by and saw me?"  
  
"Just tell them that you're saving the world," I smiled.  
  
The others started to laugh, but we climbed out of the Dumpster then. See, people or no people, you just don't want to hang in a Dumpster. The others went to the right, and we went to the left. Marco and I walked pass the exhibits and entered through a door that said 'staff only'.  
  
"So, what do we do if security guards find us?" I asked him.  
  
"I'm not sure," He said. "I guess just morph something small."  
  
I nodded, then laughed inwardly. I only had small morphs. "So," I tried making small talk, "what sort of animal morphs would you recommend?"  
  
"Well, I'm not Cassie, so I don't know."  
  
"Wow, your such a talkative person. Do you always charm people this way?"  
  
"You know it," He smiled. "So, Lisa right?"  
  
"Yeah, Marco?" He nodded. "Well that's great. Better pick a door, right? Or else we'll be in this place forever."  
  
"Yeah, just be careful. Last time Jake and I randomly picked a door, well, let's say, things weren't good."  
  
I laughed. "A tiger?"  
  
"Yes, and we almost got killed," He looked at me. "How did you know?"  
  
"I know everything." I turned and opened a door. Hot air pressed against my face, and there weren't many trees. I looked around, and didn't really see anything. I shrugged, and was about to turn around, when:  
  
"Lisa? Don't move."  
  
"You are not going to get me, Marco," I said. "I'm not as dumb as."  
  
Just don't move, I was surprised. He was morphing? Why? There wasn't even anything in the dumb.  
  
Just then, there was a cat's cry. Not one of those 'meows', no, this was a big kitty roar.  
  
"ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!" It shook the ground. I fell to my knees. Then, a black gorilla moved pass me, and wrestled the female lion to the ground. The lion was out cold in a manner of seconds, and Marco (the gorilla) was beat up kind of bad.  
  
How do you feel about lions? He asked.  
  
"Fine by me," I went and acquired it. "Uh, Marco.." I had just noticed a huge gash in his side. Blood was pulsing out kind of bad.  
  
Morphing out, He announced. Once he was human again, we quickly left the exhibit.  
  
"I have a bad feeling that some people saw that," I sighed.  
  
"Yeah, and I bet some guards or staff members are coming now," He agreed. Okay, how about we run that way." He pointed right. I nodded and we tore off. Running has come so much easier since I had been to Middle Earth. We ran to the end of the hallway, then we turned left. We ran to the end, but then:  
  
"Hey you kids!"  
  
"Oh shit," I whispered.  
  
"No kidding."  
  
"Should we morph?"  
  
"No, not enough time. But I have an idea," He grabbed my arm and turned us right. There ahead of us was.  
  
"No way," I argued.  
  
"Yes way," Marco smiled.  
  
There was a golf cart. He threw me in and turned on the cart. We tore down the corridor. Meanwhile, Marco was morphing gorilla. I shook my head, and held on for my dear life. From prior knowledge, I knew that his driving wasn't, well, it wasn't the best.  
  
Marco noticed. What, don't you trust me?  
  
"No, you have a tendency to run into trash cans, go off the road, and well, crash and burn."  
  
Man, you barely even know me, and you're criticizing me about my driving. Doesn't any one trust me?  
  
"No, I highly doubt it."  
  
He turned left, a sharp left. I almost flew out. I was about half way out of the cart. He finished the turn. I pulled myself back in.  
  
See? Not so bad.  
  
"I was almost flown out of the golf cart and run over. Yes, that was bad."  
  
Well, I think we lost them, let's ditch the cart. I agreed, but then:  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Marco threw me from cart. "Hey!"  
  
Suck it up sweetie, let's move!  
  
"Sweetie? You being smart? I'll show you sweetie."  
  
Jeez, chill out. I didn't mean any offense. You're almost as bad a Rachel.  
  
"Only, I'm not as reckless," I offered.  
  
Yeah, okay, I give you that one, He went out through a door. There was a giant pool. Hmmm, didn't mean to end up here, but you never know if we have to swim on the Hork Bajir planet. Want a dolphin morph?  
  
"I sort of can't swim," I said. He turned his gorilla head toward me. "I can't go under the water! I have like, you know, ear problems."  
  
Oh, okay, I was beginning to worry. Well, they should just swim up to you.  
  
"Don't throw me."  
  
Why would I do that? He asked. There was a pause. I'll just toss you.  
  
"Nooooooooooo!" I was hurled through the air. SPLASH! I hit the water, sunk a little from the surface, but swam back up. "I'm going to kill you, I really am. Are you always this mean to new comers?"  
  
He could answer. He was still laughing at his own wit. I sighed then turned. Six gray objects were swimming towards me. The dolphins. They came up on all sides. I reached out and acquired one. I swam to the edge and climbed out. I was cold. And I was pissed.  
  
"You know Marco, I really was going to be nice with you," I said, "so that you at least had one friend."  
  
Just admit it, you enjoyed every moment of it.  
  
I thought for a moment, then laughed. "Yeah, it was cool."  
  
See, you're just like Rachel! I told you! Man! Two of them.  
  
Just then Marco demorphed. I looked around. There wasn't any one there. Well, that's what I thought.  
  
FWAP!  
  
A tail blade hit a person unconscious. It was Ax.  
  
I suggest you watch more carefully next time, friend, He smiled his andalite smile with his eyes.  
  
"Would that be a little bit of Andalite sarcasm?"  
  
Nonsense, Andalites are not capable of such a human trait.  
  
"So that's a yes." I patted him on the shoulder. I looked up. There was Tobias and the others.  
  
We're not here to take a swim, Lisa! It was Laura. God, I leave you alone for one second.  
  
Come on, let's go, Jake told us. We have to meet Cassie and Rachel back at the barn. We've stayed way longer than I planned. Tobias and Ax were supposed to stay with them. But oh well. I should have figured there'd be trouble. Marco and Lisa?  
  
I was morphed eagle. Gosh, you don't even know me. I'm being thrown into a category with Rachel and now Marco? I flapped my wings for altitude. Man, trouble is coming.  
  
Courtney laughed, but not because of what happened. She had her own comment, she thought it was funny. So, what exactly happened. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
We made it back to the barn in one piece I'm glad to say. Rachel was slightly annoyed by the fact that we had taken such a long time at the Gardens.  
  
"How much longer could you be gone?" She demanded. "We've been sitting here forever!"  
  
Tobias answered, Marco and Lisa caused a little bit of trouble.  
  
"They had one less person than us, and we managed to keep a lower profile," Jake added.  
  
Us three kind of hung back in the corner and watched as Erek came into the barn. Erek is a Chee. An android. He has been around for a thousand years, projecting a holographic image to fool other humans to make them think he was human too. The Chee would be taking the animorphs place while they were gone. We had nothing to do with it, so we just turned and had our own little meeting.  
  
"Okay, Laura's second council has just been called to order," Laura announced. "First order of business is." She let it hang for someone else to finish.  
  
"What should we expect on the Hork Bajir home thing?" It was Courtney. Only she would ask that question.  
  
"Uh, well, the worst environment imaginable," I supplied.  
  
"Which would be like.?"  
  
"That guy, Oscar, didn't want to know in Armageddon," I pointed out.  
  
"Well, I'm not Oscar, am I?"  
  
Laura intervened before anything.physical.could start. "Huge trees stretching hundreds, thousands of feet over your head. Valleys with a sheer slope. But, that's all there is before the Yeerks came. Now there's probably yeerk pools hundreds of feet in diameter, and bases set up. Less trees than before. But the Deep still stays the same."  
  
"And the Deep would be.?"  
  
"The Arn live down there. Before the yeerks came, the Arn had monsters to keep Hork Bajir from finding them down there. Now, there's probably no monsters, because this Arn here is the last of his race," Laura finished.  
  
"Okay, thank you Laura," She purposely stressed the name while looking at me.  
  
"I could have told you that," I argued.  
  
"Well, why didn't you?" Courtney asked.  
  
"Because, I didn't.feel like it," I tried, raising my eyebrows, making a face, knowing that at the sight of the face Courtney would start laughing. And sure enough she did. She was too easy.  
  
Laura and I shook our heads.  
  
Cassie tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around.  
  
"Huh?" I asked dumbly.  
  
"Come on, we're getting ready to go."  
  
"Oh, cool!" I interjected. "Come on! Road trip!"  
  
"Courtney, grab the bags!" It was Laura.  
  
"What makes you think you're coming?" I asked Laura, smiling. She laughed. Then I stated, "I don't think that she could handle the weight of the bags."  
  
"Hey! I am gaining more muscle now! Besides, I could probably outrun all of you by now! Ha! What do you think about that?" Courtney said.  
  
Laura and I turned away and morphed. Courtney was quick to follow. We flew out of the barn. There were nine of us in body, ten in spirit because Aldrea and Cassie both shared the same body. We flew towards the valley for the second time today. I was becoming quite acquainted with the bird morph. There was silence from my end of the spectrum. I don't think Laura and Courtney were talking, and the others weren't talking, even privately, I was pretty sure.  
  
We landed in the valley. The Hork Bajir and the Arn was gathered around a Yeerk spacecraft. Jake instructed, "Anyone who doesn't have a Hork Bajir morph, get one now."  
  
I walked up to the nearest Hork Bajir. "May I?" I asked, only after hearing Cassie ask Jara Hamee first. And just like Jara replied, the Hork Bajir I asked replied:  
  
"I help." I acquired its DNA, then met back up with Laura and Courtney.  
  
"Well, this should be one interesting trip," Laura muttered.  
  
"Full of cheer," I added.  
  
"Well, if there's anyone who can make an incredibly long trip fun, it's you Lisa," Courtney said.  
  
I leaned to Laura and whispered, "Did she realize that I was being sarcastic?"  
  
"Nah, most likely not."  
  
We boarded. There was some talking, and slight arguing between Arn, Ax, and Aldrea. Toby and the rest of us were silent pretty much.  
  
"Well, this can't be good," I said. "We aren't even off the ground and the kids are fighting in the back seat.  
  
"Hey, I was going to say something like that," Marco told me.  
  
"I know, that's why I had to beat you to it."  
  
Well, we did get off the ground, but not on better terms than before. Everyone was looking real down. Really down, as if they weren't ever going to see Earth again. We entered the white nothingness of Zero Space.  
  
This time it was Courtney who pointed out the obvious. "These guys are real down."  
  
"You never lose that thing, do you?" I asked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You hang with Legolas by yourself for like, I don't know how long, and you still haven't lost that habit of pointing out the obvious?"  
  
"It.it.sticks with you," She argued. I smiled. I thought about how much I have smiled, then smiled again. It felt good. As long as you looked happy, maybe others will be cool too.  
  
Marco picked up on the down look. "So. Yahtzee anyone?"  
  
I laughed. We all laughed. But it didn't change the fact that I was scared. Deep down inside, I was truly scared, and no matter what I did or said was going to ignore the gnawing of fear inside. Nothing was going to change it. I haven't ever felt this way, even in Middle Earth. Well, that's slightly because I was blind in Middle Earth and I thought I was in dream, but that's beyond the point. I pulled myself together. Laura and Courtney needed me, and I needed them. So, they wanted humor, right?  
  
Almost a day had passed without much being said. It seemed like a good time to pick up on old stuff.  
  
I grinned at the two sitting next to me staring into empty space. "Well, how's that game of Yahtzee coming?"  
  
"Oh, you know," Laura said, "We need to make the scoring sheets, and the five die, and the cup thingy, and we need some writing utensils.so, it could take just a little bit longer."  
  
"I see what you're saying," I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can see the delay."  
  
Courtney laughed. Maybe I should start using a different word. Courtney chuckled. No, that doesn't sound right. Courtney snorted. That sounds dumb. Okay, Courtney laughed. It's good enough. "Lisa, you're so dumb!"  
  
"Yeah, okay, so maybe I am," I said, "but have you looked in the mirror lately?"  
  
"Yes, and I saw myself," She replied. "So, does that mean I'm dumb?"  
  
"Well," I tried to lengthen the conversation, "it could mean a number of different things, such as."  
  
"In other words, she tried to throw and insult and it wasn't good enough, so now she's trying to cover her tracks," Laura summed up.  
  
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," I agreed. We laughed. We chuckled. We snorted. We.fill in your own word for laugh. Okay, it was a pretty boring ride. We small talked. We cracked a couple jokes. We talked about turning our experiences into a book or a Lifetime movie. Well, after that conversation, we talked about how big we could be, we could start a cult, we could have lots of money, we could.well, use your imagination.  
  
We had been in space for two days. Two very long days. Surrounded by the same people day after day. Listening to Marco telling the same old jokes. Listening to other meaningless things. And countless other things.  
  
Of the many unusual things I had discovered about everyone/everything in space, the weirdest thing I tried to do was go to the bathroom in a toilet designed for a Hork Bajir. Don't laugh at me until you've tried it. It's not funny. It's hard, and very frustrating. But, you catch onto it, and it's easy.  
  
We needed a change in pace. I decided to announce it to everyone there. Everyone was there except Ax and Quafijinivon (the Arn), and I stood up.  
  
"Well," I announced, "I have decided that there are morphs that I haven't tried that I know I'm going to have to use."  
  
"And they would be.?" Marco asked.  
  
"Fly and Hork Bajir."  
  
Jake nodded, obviously coming out of deep thought. "Yeah, that's a good idea. A fly's instincts can be pretty strong at first."  
  
"Just ask Tobias," Marco added.  
  
Okay, stop making fun of that one time, Tobias argued in his defense. Do I talk about an embarrassing moment that happened to one of you guys? Like the time Jake ate the spider? Or Marco ate Ax?  
  
"Ooooooooookay," I said, "moving on."  
  
Cassie stood up, "We'll be here to catch you if you lose control."  
  
I nodded, then turned to Laura and Courtney.  
  
Laura stood up. "Let's do it."  
  
Courtney looked at her like she was mad, then looked at me. We were for it, she wouldn't go against it. She sighed in disgust. "Man, I hate it when you guys are right."  
  
We stood up. Courtney kept complaining. "I can't believe I am going to do this. A fly is disgusting. There is no arguing. I can barely stand seeing one, but then I had to touch one. Now I have to become one? Gross! Ewwww. I hate you! I hate you!" She closed her eyes and the changes began.  
  
"Well, let's go," I told Laura. "Now or never."  
  
"Preferably never," She muttered, but already she was shrinking.  
  
I closed my eyes and formed a mental picture of a fly in my head.  
  
The changes came.  
  
I didn't shrink at first, like I thought I would. The first thing that happened was that my skin started to meld, and mush into the color of a fly, and well, lots and lots of hair sprouted from everywhere.  
  
"This never is pretty is it?" I asked, just before my mouth melted together and formed the tube-like mouth of a fly, and started moving in and out. I was incredibly grateful when I started to shrink. Then:  
  
POP! POP!  
  
My eyes became the compound eyes a fly. A thousand tiny little TV screens that let me see in all directions at once. I didn't want to see some of the disgusting fly parts that were temporarily me. The wings grew from out of my back. They started to beat. Man, could a fly, fly.  
  
Straight up? No problem.  
  
A hard left? No sweat.  
  
A dive downward? Easy.  
  
The fly owned the air.  
  
I overcame the fly instincts of the hunger, for, well pretty disgusting things. You know, the gross way fly's eat, which I really would prefer not to talk about.  
  
You guys okay? It was Tobias.  
  
Yeah, Laura replied. Well, at least I am.  
  
Count me in on the OK list, I laughed.  
  
Courtney? Tobias called.  
  
For once, I am here and under control, She announced. No need for Kamikaze suicide dive bomb trick to be preformed, and traumatize an already traumatized girl.  
  
We laughed. Well, everyone who had been present at Court's first morph.  
  
We zoomed around, experimenting with the morph a little bit, but once we were used to the morph, we got out, because, you just don't want to be a fly any longer than you have to, even if those little things could fly.  
  
We demorphed in time to hear Jake say that we were in Hork Bajir space, and to be prepared for the worst. Okay, that was easy, us three had been through one of the worse possible places a person could go, Mordor.  
  
Then, just as I was getting into my 'zone':  
  
"Shredder fire!" Cassie/Aldrea yelled. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
  
Cassie started to run toward the bridge. Actually, I'm pretty sure that was Aldrea running, but there was no way to tell for sure. We all took off behind her.  
  
"Well, this can't be good," I laughed.  
  
"Nope," Laura agreed, "that green shredder fire was probably the last thing we saw, and now we are stuck in some bizarre afterlife."  
  
"Well, okay, you could look at it that way," I told Laura. "But as long as there's a McDonald's."  
  
We made it to the bridge. Us three were still having our meaningless conversation.  
  
"Is there a McDonald's in the afterlife?" Courtney wondered out loud.  
  
"Well, if we are dead, we could look them up in the dead pages," I tried for a joke. A little chuckle from them. Okay, cool, it was funny. Meanwhile, there was a little epidemic going on between Aldrea and Ax, again.  
  
Jake had just asked Ax if we could fire on the Andalite fighter whose shredder fire we saw. I cannot fire on a fellow Andalite who is merely doing his duty. Do not ask me, Ax pleaded. Maybe I could communicate.  
  
"No!" It was Cassie's voice. Wait, but it was Aldrea speaking. Man, this was confusing. I use 'man' too much. "If the Yeerks pick up a voice transmission, we're dead. They'll vector everything they have at us. We'll all be killed and so will the Andalites."  
  
"Uh, this could be a problem," I said to Laura and Courtney.  
  
"So much for the McDonald's," Laura sighed.  
  
"Yeah, you're actually going to have to wait a few more seconds to find out if there's one in the afterlife," Courtney told us.  
  
I looked toward the screen. The andalite fighter was coming towards us.  
  
"Here he comes," Toby said.  
  
"Oh man," I whispered. "Oh, man, Courtney, you were right."  
  
"What?"  
  
"He's coming back around."  
  
"And?"  
  
"We're all going do die."  
  
"In that case," Laura said cheerfully, "if it's the same circumstances as before, we know there's a McDonald's in the afterlife."  
  
"Laura, that really doesn't help much," Courtney replied.  
  
" It's not life or death that's the problem," Laura rambled. "It's."  
  
"It's the transition that's we fear," I finished. "Okay, everyone hold on."  
  
"That's not how the quote thing goes." Laura began.  
  
Courtney cut her off with, "How come?"  
  
I braced myself, then replied, "This is why."  
  
Computer, lateral thrusters, left side, full burn! Ax cried. We were all thrown against the left side of the ship as the Andalite fired, but that damn pilot still hit.  
  
"Hey that was a good shot!" I shouted.  
  
"What?" Courtney yelled back. "We have just been hit and you yell 'hey that was a good shot'? What about 'hey, he hit us!'?"  
  
"Or, you could say that," I laughed. We all fell to the ground. The invisible force that was holding us against the wall wasn't there anymore. Suddenly we were floating. Ax had cut off all environment and artificial gravity to give as much power to our remaining engine. Jake was demanding if we could cripple the fighter. We could. Aldrea would do it. Ax was reluctant. Sometimes, the spirit you have for your country, species, can be over done.  
  
We clipped the fighter's engine.  
  
We were full-fledged Yeerk craft now.  
  
We could to the planet without any problems  
  
We could have gone safely.  
  
But Jake thought otherwise.  
  
"If we fire on the Yeerks, will the Andalite figure it out? Will he join in?"  
  
It was a yes. We thought some things through, and made a plan. The Yeerk craft we were in drifted behind the damaged Andalite fighter. If the other Yeerk crafts that were going to take the fighter down thought we were friendly, they weren't going to shot. And we were going to have a pretty good fire works display.  
  
We fired and hit the first Yeerk craft we saw.  
  
The Andalite joined in and fired again.  
  
We fired again.  
  
Three crafts down in seconds.  
  
The andalite fighter chased the fourth one. The Andalite rolled his ship, a sort of wave. We headed toward the planet. Jake warned us to be ready for battle morphs now. There could be a fight.  
  
"Hey Court!" I called to her. We had been kind of split during the thing that just happened. "Court! With the Hork Bajir blades, it'll be exactly like fighting in Middle Earth!"  
  
"Oh that helps a lot," She called back, "considering I couldn't fight there either!"  
  
We laughed and headed toward the planet. We entered on of the valleys on the deformed planet's surface, and the first I noticed was the top of the trees. At first, I expected them to be normal sized, but they weren't. There were tall. Impossibly big. The tallest one, I remembered was two thousand feet tall. And if you found one that was one hundred feet tall, it was considered small. The trees stretched on forever, but at last we landed safely in the valley near the Arn's home. "No man's land," according to him.  
  
We all piled out of the ship and started to walk down the stair towards the Arn's lab. I looked down. There was a big, yellowish thing down there, and it was moving. I knew it was the planet's core. Of course, Courtney didn't know that.  
  
"Whoa! Lisa!" She cried. "Laura! What is that thing?"  
  
It wasn't us who answered. It was Quafijinivon who did.  
  
"That is the planet's core."  
  
"The core of the planet? As in the center?" It was Rachel.  
  
"Yes, of course." The Arn sounded as if we were some sort of slow goers. Which, as much as I hate to admit it, we were.  
  
"So, that's like, lava and stuff down there?" Marco asked. "You would like, you know, die if you fell in?"  
  
"Not helping Marco," I heard Cassie say. "You're really not helping."  
  
"Of course," Came the reply.  
  
Do not fear, It was Ax this time. I believe you would incinerate before you ever hit the core.  
  
"That was a messed up mix of Andalite and humor," I pointed out to Laura.  
  
"Yeah, one sad mix."  
  
"Even if you did fall down," this was Courtney, "you'd have a long way to think about why you were falling."  
  
"So, if I gave you a nudge." I began to apply a little bit of pressure to Courtney's shoulder.  
  
"Don't even think about it."  
  
"Why not? You can just morph bird and fly back up," I insisted.  
  
"Yeah, fly back up my ass," She replied.  
  
"Okay, enough with the core," Jake said, sounding irritated. "I think we have come to the conclusion that if you fell you would die, and it's a long way down."  
  
We all shut up. No need to make people mad when they didn't need to be. From prior experience, you can ruin a friendship, or well, what you can consider a friendship, from talking all the time and having your voice sound annoying on purpose.  
  
So, we walked a long ways. Actually, a pretty long ways. The stair seemed to stretch forever, and the place we were in was awesome. It was like those cliff dwellings in New Mexico, you know, the ones that were built into the cliffs. It was cool. It was neat. It was kind of boring actually, but you have to make the best of a bad situation, right?  
  
"So, Laura," I said, trying to make this sound like some sort of history lesson, "what do you make of these dwellings?"  
  
"Oh, I don't know," She replied. "They're kind of like those things that that Indian tribe used to live in."  
  
"And what would be the name of that Indian tribe?" I asked, trying to waste time.  
  
"The Navajo." Darn, I thought I had her there. She knows way too much about history. I hoped Courtney didn't hear.  
  
"Hey Courtney? What was the name of that Indian tribe that dwelled in those cliff things?" I bet she doesn't know this one, I thought to myself. She couldn't, the only person in their right minds who knew it was.  
  
"The Navajo," Courtney replied.  
  
"Damn! I thought I had you!" I whined.  
  
"Ha! You underestimate the ability my ears have," She boasted. "I'm not nearly as deaf as you are."  
  
"I'm not deaf!" I shot back, then searched for a cover up. "I just have selective hearing."  
  
"I believe it!" Laura laughed. But we made sure our voices were low the entire time.  
  
We reached the bottom. Quafijinivon rushed to his lab so that the DNA he collected would not be damaged. Jake rounded us up for one last meeting. And that's when we learned some pretty bad news.  
  
"Jake!" It was Cassie. "Jake! Aldrea doesn't know where the weapons are.  
  
Aldrea, "I am sure about where I hid them however."  
  
"Well, we should have thought about this before we left Earth," Jake sighed.  
  
"She doesn't know?" It was Marco. "There's a little bit of a difference of getting killed on a definitely than a maybe."  
  
I spoke up. "She knows where they are."  
  
Everyone stopped.  
  
But she just said. Ax began.  
  
"She knows where they are," I repeated again.  
  
I'm not sure if everyone believed me, because Jake then made a speech. What is it with leaders and making speeches?  
  
"No choice now, if she knows or not. We're here. But you Aldrea are no longer to be trusted. You are mad at the Andalites, mad at the Arn, and you don't treat humans like allies. I understand your anger. You're in a very strange reality now. But we get in and out alive, that's what we do. So, if you get in the way, make me doubt you again, we will put you down."  
  
Aldrea leaped back at him. "This is my world, human. My battle. Follow me and do as I say, and you will soon be able to scurry back to Earth."  
  
"And you'll be back in Quafijinivon's bottle." Rachel.  
  
"That's right," Aldrea/Cassie took a deep breath.  
  
Jake said, "Okay, we want to avoid earth morphs if possible. No need to announce 'the animorphs are here'. Tobias, you're in the air. Everyone else, go Hork Bajir."  
  
On my way, Tobias announced.  
  
"Now we morph," Jake followed. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
"Alright, Hork Bajir, right?" Courtney asked cautiously, being careful not to pop anyone's buttons.  
  
"Yeah," I confirmed, rather quietly.  
  
I closed my eyes and formed a mental picture of the Hork Bajir I acquired back on Earth in my mind. The first thing that happened was my mouth stretched outward, to form the hard beak of a Hork Bajir mouth. And I could feel my neck stretch up ward, to form a snake like neck. My skin turned green. My ears shriveled to become nearly invisible. I shot upward, to reach seven feet, the average height of a Hork Bajir.  
  
I felt my insides squish and churn so that they fit the Hork Bajir form, and so that the digestive track was fit for eating bark. My feet twisted and turned, and my feet soon resembled the feet of that on a hawk. The last thing to form was the blades that covered, well, pretty much most of the Hork Bajir body.  
  
SPROOT! Three horns came from my forehead, and then one for each shoulder.  
  
SPROOT! One came at each of the elbows are wrists.  
  
SPROOT! One at both the knees and ankles.  
  
These guys were killing machines. No, they weren't before the Yeerks came. This race used to blades to climb the trees and harvest bark, the Yeerks turned them into their shock troops.  
  
The mind was simple enough to control. It was simple enough to command. I felt sorry for them. That's why they must have accepted defeat so soon to the Yeerks. They couldn't fight them.  
  
The others were just finishing up their morphs.  
  
Everyone finished? It was Jake.  
  
One by one we all checked off.  
  
Aldrea, this is your show, He told her.  
  
"To the trees!" She cried, using the rough tongue of Hork Bajir instead of thought-speak. We all ran from the valley, and straight up the first tree we came to. Up and up we went. We were about three-quarters of the way up the first one, when Aldrea decided to move to the next tree.  
  
The next tree was a considerable distance away.  
  
Aldrea ran off the end of the branch. Fell! Then grabbed a branch, and continued back up the next tree. Laura, Courtney and I looked at each other.  
  
She's kidding right? Courtney asked.  
  
I have a feeling she's not, I said.  
  
Oh, well, Courtney stepped aside, how about you show me how to do it.  
  
What! There was no objection. Fine. God, fine. I'll do it. Just, move, I need some running distance.  
  
The other Animorphs and Toby were already moving to the next tree. I ran to the edge of the branch. Leaped! Fell! Reached for a branch! Grabbed one! Pulled myself up! The momentum through me into the tree and I shot upward still climbing.  
  
YEAHHHHH! I yelled insanely. Yeah! That was great! Yeah! Come on you guys! That was fun!  
  
Laura was next. She shared my enthusiasm. That was insane! Yeah! Rock on! Alright!  
  
Courtney ran, but she must have been nervous, and stopped.  
  
What happens if I fall? She asked shakily.  
  
You'd have a long time to think about why you fell, I supplied.  
  
Aldrea said, "Hork Bajir do not fall from trees."  
  
Okay, was Courtney's response to that. She backed up, ran, leaped. She fell. She reached out for the branch, but the branch had already pulled too much weight. It snapped. Courtney fell, out of control. She kept reaching out for the branches, but the blades kept slicing them away. And like I said, it took her awhile to fall.  
  
Bye Court, I sniffled.  
  
Can she survive the fall? Ax demanded.  
  
"Not even a Hork Bajir can survive that fall," Aldrea replied. Then muttered, "Dumb human."  
  
I was in flame. Courtney may have been sitting in her living room by now, but nothing was going to let me tolerate Aldrea's rude comments. I raced up to her and put her face in mine.  
  
Don't you ever say anything about my friend again, I whispered.  
  
Lisa, Jake began, I really don't think now is the time.  
  
Shut-up Jake! I yelled, then turned back to Aldrea. My friend was a better person than you'll ever be. She has see more blood and battle than you have, and I know you've seen a lot.  
  
There was silence. I inwardly smiled. They were buying the act! HA! They actually thought I was mad! I knew that Courtney was at her home by now, laughing at her stupidity. She always dies because of pretty dumb things. She fell out of a tree! Ha! Back to being mad.  
  
I loved my friend, and now, because you said that, I am going to make the rest of your life, a living hell. Oops, I forgot, you're already dead, I sneered.  
  
There was silence, I backed toward Laura. She knew me too well. She told me privately, You were laughing at your wit the entire time, weren't you.  
  
Yep.  
  
And please tell me I'm not the only who thinks that falling out of a tree and dying is dumb.  
  
You're not.  
  
And please tell me I'm not the only one who sees Courtney sitting at her couch like a dork.  
  
You're not.  
  
Okay, that's a relief.  
  
We're on our own now, I pointed out.  
  
We've been down this road before.  
  
But I wasn't there.  
  
I know, but it'll be okay.  
  
Laura?  
  
Yeah?  
  
I'm scared.  
  
So am I.  
  
Don't leave me.  
  
I'll try.  
  
Jake sense the tension, he felt it too. Look, Lisa pull it together. We still have a mission to complete. We need you. Aldrea, don't say anything like that again, got it?  
  
There was no reply.  
  
Alright, let's go, He said.  
  
We finished our trip through the trees. Tobias swooped down, and announced trouble. There was always trouble. I was tired of trouble. We finished our swing through the trees, and right where Aldrea's old home would be, was a giant Yeerk Pool. It was huge, it must have housed at least a thousand slugs, if not more. And surrounding it was Hork Bajir controllers. They were guards.  
  
If I were to hide the weapons, I would hide them in the old hide out that Dak and his fellow warriors used to use. It's hollow out, maybe 40 feet, and its round. That's where I would hide the weapons, in there, Aldrea told us.  
  
Okay, it's near the dam? I asked. That would be a suicide mission for us, no question there.  
  
And if you mess with one side of that dam/pool it's all going to go, Marco pointed out.  
  
She wants revenge, Rachel translated. That's what she wants.  
  
Okay, I don't need any more fights, it's been a really bad couple of days, Jake said slowly. Aldrea, can you get this hide out open again?  
  
Yes, of course, She replied like it was nothing. The water pressure would have kept it shut.  
  
Water pressure? Jake asked. But that would mean.  
  
The entrance is underneath the surface of the pool, Laura finished.  
  
Well, this could be a problem, I said.  
  
No, do you think? It was Marco.  
  
How are you guys supposed to get in there? Tobias asked. It's completely surrounded by guards. If there were to be a fight, we'd lose, no questions asked. And even if you did pass as controllers, I highly doubt they'd still believe you if you decided to take a swim.  
  
Well, with that said, we needed to make a plan.  
  
Right, this should have been no problem. I could have helped them along, if it weren't for one problem. I had brain block. I couldn't remember anything in the book. I was lost. I just couldn't. Maybe Laura would know.  
  
Laura? I tried. Laura, do you remember how this goes?  
  
Well, I remember Cassie's part, She said.  
  
That doesn't help, because we're not Cassie, I sighed.  
  
No, I didn't realize that, Laura laughed.  
  
Well, better for them to think it out for themselves, right? I asked. That way we won't alter the space-time continuum.  
  
News flash, we already have, Laura informed me. We aren't even supposed to be here. We already have altered the book and space-time continuum in two universes.  
  
Well, three, I added, if you include our universe.  
  
But how did we alter it?  
  
We did use the watch, duh!  
  
Oh that, She laughed. Well, yeah, sure, if you want to include that.  
  
Lisa! Laura! it was Jake. Him and the other animorphs had been sitting a little ways from us. You know, planning out the mission. We have nothing, what do you think we should do.  
  
I cringed. The one question I never thought in a million years he'd ask, and he did.  
  
Heck, I never thought in Animorphs or Lord of the Rings in a million years either, but still.  
  
How about, not get anyone killed, I tried.  
  
We kind of thought about that one already, Marco said dryly.  
  
Laura took over. Good old Laura. Okay, we probably need land soldiers, as well as water soldier, She began. Soldier? What was this? WWII?  
  
Hork Bajir, Andalite, or. Cassie answered. Or.  
  
Shark, Laura supplied. Uhh, well, Cassie is the best morpher, so, uh, she morphs osprey, we all morph something small, flea of fly, and hide inside of her mouth. She demorphs, being careful to keep the wings, and then goes whale, and we demorph in the whale's mouth. Two I guess go shark, everyone else on land. Once we all exit, Aldrea, Cassie is going to be exhausted, so she needs to demorph to human again, then Hork Bajir, open the hide out.  
  
Whoa, sounds way to complicated, Jake said. Are you sure.  
  
It'll work, Laura confirmed. It will work.  
  
Well, we spent the next couple minutes working out the kinks of it all, but pretty soon we were all demorphed a couple hundred feet in the air. The only person not going on this mission was Toby. She was left out. We all rested a moment, especially Cassie, she needed her rest. Then, we all went fly or flea, and Cassie picked us up with her beak. It was kind of cramped. Cassie took wing.  
  
Okay, here we go, I muttered. Hold onto your horses kids, we're going in.  
  
Oh goody, Marco mumbled.  
A/N~ I'm aware that after writing this chapter that that's not how it really worked out in the book, so just deal with it, it doesn't change the story line that much, plus, it's a fan fic, stuff changes. 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
I'm not sure how long we were in that mouth, but it wasn't long before it became roomy enough to demorph, and even then I wasn't sure how a hump back whale's mouth could hold our attack force.  
  
Okay, everyone, Jake instructed, demorph. Remember, Tobias and Ax, go Andalite. Marco, Lisa, and Laura go Hork Bajir. Rachel and me go hammer head shark.  
  
Gotcha Jake, I replied. Now, should we all be praying by now?  
  
Marco laughed. I first found religion as soon as I joined the Animorphs.  
  
Then pray for all of us, Laura muttered.  
  
Would you relax, Rachel said, this is a breeze. We kick some butt until the door opens, we bail, and we leave. No sweat.  
  
Easy for you to say Xena, you're fearless, Marco said. Us mortals are a little more scared, unlike you.  
  
Rachel laughed her laugh, then she was mostly human, like all of us. "Let's do it."  
  
"Man I hate it when she says that," Marco complained.  
  
"You and me both my brother," I shook my head. We all remorphed. Three to Hork Bajir, two to Andalite, and two to shark. Our small little attack force didn't stand a chance against what the Yeerks had out there.  
  
Need air soon, I told Cassie.  
  
I'm moving up now, She announced. Be ready. I am real tired.  
  
Be strong Cassie, it was Jake.  
  
Okay, let's go! I called out. My lungs were burning out. Suddenly:  
  
Air!  
  
Move, move, move! Jake yelled. We all jumped out. Tobias and Ax were the first to be attacked, they were most obvious on this planet.  
  
SPLASH! Taxxons were put into the pool to go after Cassie. Jake and Rachel lunged toward them. Marco, Laura, and I all moved to the edge of the pool.  
  
Maybe we should try a low profile for a minute, Marco suggested. Then, using the Hork Bajir's mouth, "Andalites! Andalites everywhere! Run!"  
  
Not really a movement in people.  
  
Hmmm, made perfect sense when I first thought about it, He laughed.  
  
There were Hork Bajir running for us, from behind.  
  
Uh, you guys? There are sort of people coming for us, I pointed out.  
  
Yeah, and there's a dracon cannon pointing for us, Marco said grimly. Well, this can't be good.  
  
Better go out bravely than to die a loser, I said. The Hork Bajir were closer. Closer. Closer. Wait for them. Wait for them.  
  
NOW!  
  
I leaped for the closest one. Slash! I moved my wrist blade to slice his unprotected neck. His head came off. This was Lord of the Rings all over again! Suddenly flashes of a battle long ago, but only this time yesterday came to my mind.  
  
FLASH!  
  
Thousands of people surrounded me! Wait, were they people? Orcs, maybe? I couldn't tell what they were anymore. I was fighting, fighting for my life. I searched for Laura or Courtney. They warned me not to head into this fight so fast. Now, I wish I had listened to them. Behind me! I pivoted, stuck my sword out, ducked, and threw my sword around in front of me. One down! Dead? Injured? I couldn't tell. There wasn't time to tell. One of my fellow friends, allies? No time to worry. Flung my sword forward, and down went another, but this time, he swung back. I threw my sword up and blocked his blow. I pushed it back. He came again, and this time it was above my head, coming down so fast. Could I block it..?  
  
FLASH!  
  
Lisa! Laura cried out. Behind you!  
  
I turned wicked fast. Protected myself from a deadly blow, then drew back my arm and struck. He was injured. The taxxons would finish him off. I moved to the next one. I slowly, but surely moved my way down the line, fighting my way towards the opening. I couldn't see Marco or Laura anymore. Could they be one of the dead bodies on the ground? Then:  
  
We are most likely to be overrun in seconds, Ax's calm voice filled my head.  
  
Marco, So that means hurry! Hurry or we're toast!  
  
Laura! I cried out. Laura? Where are you? Can you hear me?  
  
There was no answer. Was she.? No, she wasn't. She wasn't going to leave me. She just couldn't hear me, I told myself. She's too caught up in saving herself to answer. That's it. Yeah, that's good.  
  
FLASH!  
  
I threw my blade up as fast as I could.  
  
But it wasn't fast enough. I got a gash on my head. I was stunned, blood trickled down my face. I couldn't see! I couldn't see! Oh God! I was going to die! I was going to die in a place that I shouldn't even had been. I couldn't see as the spear went through my stomach. I could see it protruding from my body. I couldn't feel it. I couldn't feel much of anything. I could barely hear.  
  
I was slowly dying.  
  
FLASH!  
  
LAURA! I cried out. Nooo! Laura answer me!  
  
Lisa! Marco grabbed my arm and tugged me toward the opening. Let's go! Come on!  
  
No! Laura! I screamed. LAURA!  
  
Marco dragged me under the water. I was using too much oxygen to try and reach the surface to save her. She was still fighting! She had to know to retreat! She didn't know! I had to save her!  
  
The world was going fuzzy. No, she couldn't be dead.I couldn't be alone. The world was fuzzy. I couldn't see as well as I used to. Dying? Was I dying? Was I going home? Could I go home? Laura? Courtney? Gone?  
  
Air! We had made it to the opening.  
  
Demorph! Jake ordered. Demorph! Everyone!  
  
We all demorphed. I tried to hide the fact that I didn't see Laura. She was there, she had to be. She was just hidden. I finished. I was human again.  
  
"Laura?" I called out. "Laura?"  
  
Everyone looked solemn. Marco walked up to me. He looked me in the eyes. He was serious.  
  
"Lisa?" He began. "Lisa? Laura, well, Laura fell."  
  
"So, where is she?" I demanded.  
  
"She's not coming back Lisa."  
  
"What?"  
  
"She's dead."  
  
Dead? Laura was dead? No. No. The words weren't true. They were lying! Lying!  
  
"Dead?" I asked. "But, how can that be? No, no, she's not."  
  
I couldn't be alone. I needed someone.  
  
Marco gripped my shoulders. He was on the verge of tears. Behind him, I saw Aldrea and Ax getting the ship of weapons together.  
  
"She's not coming back, Lisa," He whispered softly. "She's gone."  
  
He paused to let it sink in. I didn't make any comments.  
  
"She knew she wasn't going to make it," He continued. "She told me to tell you, 'I'm sorry, I meant to stay. I love you. See you on the other side.'"  
  
I meant to laugh. Of course she was alive! But, I couldn't be sure. I couldn't be sure. So, I cried instead. I buried my face in my hands, and kept them there until we were on the ship and flying towards the Arn, with the pool spilling open and leaving Yeerks to their death. I was alone in the world. I was alone in an alternate universe I didn't know. I was alone. Alone in the worse possible way.  
  
We made it to the valley and brought the weapons to the Arn. We had to trick Toby into going back to Earth with us because she felt like she belonged on the planet. Aldrea went back to the bottle. There were eight of us on the ship when we were ready to go home.  
  
"You are sure you know the way?" The Arn questioned suspiciously.  
  
Yes, Ax replied. I am sure.  
  
"Farewell, then, and thank you," Quafijinivon thanked us. "Good luck with Earth."  
  
"We'll need all the help we can get," Jake laughed. The door closed. I hung back from the others. Ax walked to the bridge with Jake behind him. Marco was annoying Rachel, and Cassie walked up to me and sat down. I kept looking ahead.  
  
She began softly. "They aren't dead are they?"  
  
I turned to look at her. "No, at least, I don't think so."  
  
"Where are they?"  
  
"Hopefully back in Courtney's living room cracking jokes."  
  
"You must really miss them," She said.  
  
"Yeah, I do," I confessed. "When I was younger, well, back in the fifth grade and I started to read Animorphs, I always thought about how cool it would be for it to be real, for me to be apart of it. In those dreams, I was always alone with you guys, without Laura or any of my friends, and I handled it then."  
  
"Sometimes how you think it would be and what really happens are two different things."  
  
"It's just not fair," I continued. "Why can't I handle it? I could in my dreams, in my thoughts, and I am usually right. But it's so hard, to have gone through so much with two people, and then, even though you know they're okay, they just aren't there anymore."  
  
"It's okay to be scared or angry," Cassie comforted. "You're only human."  
  
"Yeah, I just wish I didn't feel what I was feeling now."  
  
"What are you feeling?"  
  
"Jealousy."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because they're home, and I'm not."  
  
Cassie gave me a hug, and I returned one. It helped to know that someone cared. It helped to know that someone understood, or at least tried to understand.  
  
"Well, until you can go home too, we'll be you're family," Cassie told me.  
  
"Okay. Yeah, thanks."  
  
She got up and left.  
  
I was left to think for awhile. I was left to look back. "Just deal," It was Laura's voice in my head. I tried. I really did try, I answered. I just don't know what to do now. What do I do? What can I do? I need you guys. I need you guys so much, more than you know.  
  
FLASH!  
  
I was back in Middle Earth. Back before I died.  
  
I had been on the Uruk-Hai's back for about an hour. I had been bouncing up and down, up and down. Merry and Pippin were on some other back around me. I tried to look for them, but my vision wouldn't allow me to see that far.  
  
"Okay, Lisa, what do you do?" I asked myself. "You're in a sticky spot, and you need to get out."  
  
It took me a while to think about it, but I did.  
  
You do what ever it takes to stay alive.  
  
FLASH!  
  
I smiled. Whether the vision was from God or from Laura and Courtney, it didn't matter now. I knew where I was going. And I knew what I was going to do.  
  
Kick some major Yeerk butt. 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
  
Three days from leaving the Hork Bajir planet, we arrived back on earth. We all morphed bird, and let the Yeerk craft crash into the ocean, about a mile or so out. It would cause the Yeerks to work extra hard to cover it up. Jake, Marco, Rachel and Cassie all flew home, to check in and tell the Chee that was playing them that it was okay to leave. Then, they would start a much-needed vacation.  
  
Tobias and Ax flew to the woods. I flew to the barn and left a note to Cassie that I was heading out and that I would be back later. I took wing, and headed back to the beach. I sat on the shore and watched the waves crash into the shoreline for sometime. The constant rhythm soothed my troubled mind.  
  
I walked up and down the beach, with the water hitting my feet, and thought. I didn't think about anything in particular, but one thing that kept coming back to my mind was Lord of the Rings. Had it only been yesterday that I was on the slope of Mount Doom? Had it only been yesterday, our time that I was in Lothlorien? Had it only been yesterday that I had died?  
  
Had it only been yesterday? Had it only been yesterday that seven months of my life passed by in seven minutes?  
  
I sat down in the sand. I picked up a couple shells. Memories of being at the beach with my family and Laura came to my mind. Memories of how we would use the boogie board to pull each other around in the water. Memories of sitting in the sand without a towel, only to find out later that sand had gone up my butt. Memories of giant waved chasing us as we ran toward shore to rush away from them.  
  
Maybe that was in another universe, another time line, another place, but it was still as close to me as it was before.  
  
Two hours later, I heard a voice in my head.  
  
You know, you've been sitting on the beach since sun set. You planning on camping out here? It was Tobias.  
  
I shook my head and headed toward some trees to morph. I soon rose into the sky to join him.  
  
So, I guess we're going to be spending a lot of time together? I asked.  
  
Yeah I guess, He laughed. We just better not let Rachel know.  
  
Oh, yeah. God only knows what she would do, I agreed. So, why'd you come and get me?  
  
Well, first I had to find you, and I did because Cassie was wondering where you were.  
  
So, how many other people were looking for me?  
  
Just her and Ax.  
  
I laughed. What for?  
  
I guess to make arrangements for where you're going to stay, He told me.  
  
Oh, okay, I said.  
  
We flew back to the barn, going to dead air. Birds of prey are made for daytime flying, but not night. As we flew to the barn, I saw Cassie and Ax standing there.  
  
Hey everyone, sorry to worry you, I landed and began to demorph.  
  
"We weren't worried," Cassie said. "I was talking to Ax about where you were going to stay. He's volunteered for you to share his scoop."  
  
"Wow Ax," I said, more human than eagle, "that's really nice, but I don't think I can accept."  
  
It would be my honor to house you, Ax said. We are after all a team.  
  
"Well, when you put it that way," I smiled. "Okay, how about this, on the warm nights, I'll bunk with Ax, on the cold nights, I'll stay in the barn. What do you think Cassie?"  
  
"I'm fine with it, as long as Ax agrees."  
  
I am comfortable with this plan, he assured us.  
  
"Okay, well, I'm going to stay here tonight, up in the hayloft," I announced. "So, I'm kind of tired. I'll see you all later."  
  
Ax and Tobias left, and Cassie left after tending to the animals. I liked where I slept. It was where I stayed the first night I was here. When Laura and Courtney were still here. I lay on my back, and stared out the opening in the barn roof. I saw their faces.  
  
"We done good you guys," I whispered to them, even though they were in a far off universe. "We done good."  
  
I slept in peace that night, and got a lot more sleep than I have gotten in awhile. I didn't dream, and I didn't wake up. I woke up feeling refreshed, at peace. I sat up. The sun shone brightly down on me. I pushed my hair into some sort of a place. I morphed bird. I was going to go fly somewhere, maybe find some money and go to the mall. I went to Cassie's bedroom window. She was on the phone. I tapped on the window with my beak.  
  
Tap. Tap. Tap.  
  
She looked up, but put up one finger. I sat on the tree branch and waited. She put down the phone and slid the window open.  
  
"What is it?" She asked.  
  
Oh, I'm just heading out, I replied. You know, maybe find some lost money, go to the mall, and buy some shoes. Who you on phone with?  
  
She laughed. "Rachel, she wants me to go shopping. Come on in, I have an idea."  
  
I flutter-hoped my way to her bed and watched her go back to the phone.  
  
"Hey Rach? Lisa decided that she could use an outfit or two, and some shoes. You know, to walk around in public."  
  
There was a soft, muffled voice on the other end of the phone.  
  
"Okay, an hour? Yeah okay, see you then," Cassie hung up the phone, and addressed me, "You want a shower?"  
  
"What about your parents?"  
  
"Out at the store, it's safe," She told me. "I suppose I'll let you borrow some of my clothes and shoes."  
  
I was already demorphing. "Anything is fine by me. Unlike Rachel, I don't mind what I wear."  
  
"So, if I were to give you pants that ended four inches above your ankle and a shirt with bird poop on it."  
  
"I'd say, are the socks long enough to cover up the rest of my skin on my leg."  
  
We laughed. Cassie gave me some towels and I took a nice hot shower. I got dressed and we had some food, then we left to meet Rachel at the mall.  
  
We spent awhile at the mall, wandering around from store to store, Rachel picking out this shirt and that shirt, these pants and those pants. We must have walked at least five miles in one store. I didn't think it was possible. Rachel enjoyed every moment of it, but her real shining moment came when we stumbled on a sale at the Limited.  
  
"Look!" She cried, "The same shirt we saw at the Gap, for three dollars less, plus it's on sale."  
  
"Is this a good thing?"  
  
Rachel took out a pair of pants she had bought me and put the shirt up to it. There was a groan. "No, it won't do. It doesn't look good enough."  
  
"I know I'm going to regret asking this, but how can the a shirt at one store look perfect with a pair of pants, and the same shirt from a different store not look good with the same pair of pants?" I asked.  
  
"Don't even ask," Cassie said. "We'll be standing here for an hour."  
  
We all laughed.  
  
About three hours later, we all left and went back to Rachel's house. It felt good to be hanging out with people again. I almost forgot about where I was, until:  
  
"Rachel? Is that you?" Rachel's mom came down the stairs. "Oh, hi Cassie," She turned to me, "I don't believe we've met. I'm Rachel's mom, Naomi."  
  
"Pleasure to meet you Ms. Naomi," I greeted politely. "I'm Lisa, Rachel's friend from school."  
  
"I see," She turned back to Rachel. "Jake called why you were out. He said to call him back. It was something about a TV show, I think. I'm not sure."  
  
"A TV show?" Rachel giggled. "What on earth?"  
  
"Nothing on earth," I whispered to Cassie.  
  
"He keeps getting more and more weird," Rachel continued, but called him up. Cassie and I just waited and watched as she drilled him, and then hung up.  
  
"So? What is it?" I asked.  
  
She lowered her voice. "Our vacation has just been canceled."  
  
We went up to her room, and morphed and flew to the barn.  
  
As it turns our, Marco discovered that some TV show host was a controller, and on his show he was telling people to join the Sharing.  
  
Well, it was going to turn out to be a battle to get this guy off the air. I knew this book, even if I did forget the last one. I went back with Ax that night to watch some TV with him and Tobias.  
  
"Hey! Go back!" I told Ax as he flipped through the channels. "That was the Brady Bunch!"  
  
Was it? I could not tell, Ax flipped back. I enjoy this show. There's a story, of a lovely lady, bringing up three very lovely girls.  
  
He started to sing along with the beginning.  
  
Tobias asked him, I thought you liked These Messages.  
  
"The commercials?" I barked.  
  
Yes, they are quite entertaining, but you have very many unusual things transmitted on this television, Ax confessed.  
  
I looked at Ax. I wanted an Andalite morph. I thought back to that day in the cave. This was my only chance, I had this gut feeling that this was the last chance I was going to get to get an Andalite morph. But what would he do? Ax would know if I were acquiring him. Oh well, I decided to go for it anyway.  
  
I got up from my spot on the ground. I acted like I tripped. Well, I did actually trip, but not on purpose.  
  
"Whoa!" I fell against Ax. He and I both fell down. I concentrated. I felt the DNA go into me. I got up. Suddenly, there was a tail blade at my throat.  
  
Yeerk, He hissed.  
  
"What?" I asked. I expected a lot of things to happen, but this?  
  
You have just acquired my DNA, I felt it, He snapped. You know too much about me, too much about what is happening.  
  
"Hey look Ax, I didn't mean to, I really didn't," I persisted. "Besides, I've been with you for more than three days. You know that."  
  
Yes, but there was that period of two hours that we did not know where you were, He continued.  
  
Ax-man, Tobias came in. I really don't think.  
  
But before Tobias finished, I was already on the ground. I was on the ground, looking up at my legs. I wouldn't be conscious for longer than seconds. The last thing I heard faintly was.  
  
Jake was talking to me earlier. Was it Ax to Tobias? What was that?  
  
I would never know, because the next thing I heard was,  
  
"It's about damn time!"  
A/N~ I know, its kind of dumb to die by Ax killing me, but I really did think this through. I didn't want to go into 35, because it would really add a bunch of needless things into the story, and I would lose the readers interest. I enjoy a moving plot. No dull plots are welcome! So, you know, I thought about what Ax, Jake..and a other person (hehehe) would have thought about. The next chapter sorta explains. Hahaha, youll have to read it to find out! 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
  
"How long have you actually been sitting here?" I asked.  
  
They gave each other looks, and tried to think of an answer. Laura replied, "Oh, about eight seconds."  
  
I smiled, "I figured."  
  
"Yeah, I got here, and faster than I could blink, Laura was here too," Courtney commented. "Only had to wait a couple seconds for you to show up. So how did each of you die? I didn't have time to hear Laura's."  
  
Laura began. "Well, we were in that battle beside the Yeerk Pool, and I didn't see this Hork Bajir come up behind me, took my head right off."  
  
"Ouch," I shuddered. "Must have hurt."  
  
"Actually, I didn't feel much," Laura added, then laughed at her own reply.  
  
"Well, can't be as bad as mine. I died because of a little thing called friendly fire," I laughed.  
  
"What?" Courtney looked confused.  
  
I grinned. "I 'accidentally' acquired Ax. He didn't seem to like it. But when I was looking up at the lower half of my body."  
  
"He chopped you in half?" Laura questioned.  
  
"Yeah, and right before I snapped it back, I heard someone saying something like they were talking to Jake earlier, or whatever."  
  
"Which would mean?" Laura continued.  
  
"Maybe Jake knew, maybe he knew I had to die to get back, and knew that I couldn't commit suicide or else I really would die."  
  
"And how would he know that?" Courtney wondered.  
  
"Maybe Cassie told him," Laura supplied.  
  
"Well, then how could he have known I couldn't commit suicide?" I continued.  
  
"The Ellimist?" Laura asked.  
  
"Or those dreams," I added.  
  
"Or both," Courtney said.  
  
"Or both," Laura and I both agreed.  
  
I was back. We were back. We were together. The rule stayed the same: If you die in an alternate universe, you come back to your real one. It was true, as long as we died in an alternate universe, we didn't really die.  
  
This left only one thing.  
  
"You guys think about powers?" The words suddenly came out of my mouth.  
  
"What?" Courtney asked. "What powers?"  
  
Laura caught on though. "Oh YEAH!" She cried out. "The morphing power! You know, if we were able to bring back the watch, why not the morphing power?"  
  
There was silence. We all looked at each other.  
  
"Don't look at me to try," Courtney warned. "I've already made too much of a fool out of myself today."  
  
"Okay, between me and you Laura," I sighed. "We draw straws."  
  
"What? Why? Why can't I just try?" She demanded.  
  
"Because, it's how it works," I told her. "You already have the watch, and if Courtney and I use it, it doesn't work. So, it's probably not you who has it, even if it's possible."  
  
"Okay, then why did you say draw straws?" She asked me.  
  
I was searching for one of Courtney's pets. I found her cat. I bent over to pet it. "Because, I decided to try a democratic approach to this."  
  
"This is a democracy, and I'm the dictator," Laura laughed. "And since when did you know the word 'democratic'?"  
  
The cat smelled my hand now. "Since I decided to sound smart," I supplied. "Okay, shut up, and let me try this." I put my hand on her back (cat) and I concentrated. I wasn't sure if I had acquired the DNA, so I just backed off and took a deep breath, deciding I did.  
  
I formed a picture of the cat in my head.  
  
I began to shrink.  
  
I was morphing.  
  
No way.  
  
"No way!" I called out. I stopped and went human again. "Well, I guess this answers the question."  
  
"No kidding."  
  
"Do you think that it's possible that I kept my morphs?" I asked.  
  
"Well, how about us too?" Laura questioned. She pet Cody, then concentrated. No changes. "Well, that didn't work. Go ahead, try."  
  
I pictured Ax in my head. The andalite.  
  
"Lisa? No Hork Bajir, I don't want my house to get ripped apart," Courtney addressed me.  
  
"Yeah, okay, what ever. Don't worry," I replied. "Don't you trust me?"  
  
"No, not really."  
  
The first thing to happen was the blue fur spread all over my body.  
  
"Oh no," Laura whispered. "You did not."  
  
"You bet," I smiled.  
  
"What?" Courtney demanded.  
  
My hands grew two extra fingers, and became weaker. My mouth began to disappear and melt into my face.  
  
"Oh," Courtney remarked. "Now, I get it."  
  
SPROOT!  
  
Two legs came out of my chest and landed on the floor. RIP! A tail extended from my tailbone. Suddenly, two stalk eyes came from the top of my head. Incredible 360 vision! I could see everything! My eyes that were left on my face changed to almond shape. My ears stretched to form the elf-like ears of an Andalite. My nose was pressed flat, and slits formed to breathe.  
  
Sheer optimism from the Andalite mind!  
  
It was insane!  
  
So, what do you guys think? I asked.  
  
"Very strange," Laura commented. "You sound like Ax."  
  
Well, duh, I am Ax!  
  
"Oh, right," It was Courtney.  
  
I cracked my tail blade over my head. It sounded like a whip. Very cool, I commented. I walked around some. I tested the vision. I wanted to go outside and run, but I couldn't let people see me, it would cause mass havoc. So, I demorphed instead.  
  
"Well, it's been one hell of a day," I commented. "Kind of like yesterday's"  
  
"Yesterday's was more hellish," Courtney corrected.  
  
"And lasted a whole lot longer," Laura inputted.  
  
Okay, I gave them that. Laura and I said our good bye's to Courtney, and we headed home. We have spent way too much time together this weekend. I went home, pigged out on some cookies, chips, and other junk food. I took a hot shower and came out feeling refreshed. I walked past Laura on the way to the room to get dressed. She was on the Internet chatting to her friends, as if nothing happened. So, I asked casually:  
  
"Who's on?"  
  
"No one!" She snapped. "God, no one is ever on!" She looked down at her sword that she got from Middle Earth.  
  
I made a mental note that she had just woken up from a nap, and must have been cranky.  
  
I turned on the radio to 93.1, WPOC. It was Rascal Flatts, with "These Days". I turned it up, and song along to the first verse, and the first chorus.  
  
"Hey baby, is that you? Wow your hair got so long. Yeah, Yeah, I love it, I really do.Well, life throws you curves, but you've learned to swerve. Me? I swung and I missed and the next thing you know, I'm reminiscing, dreaming old dreams, wishing old wishes, like you would back again. I wake up and tear drops, they fall down like rain. I put on that old song we danced to and then I head off to my job, guess not much has changed. Punch the clock, head for home, check the phone, just in case. Go to bed, dream of, that's what I'm doing these days."  
  
I was feeling pretty good by the second verse, when I heard Laura in the next room yell: "Yeah! Steve! You got on!"  
  
I shook my head, got dressed, and watched some TV. I considered asking Laura if I could get on the Internet, but then again, she was in a cranky mood, and who wouldn't be? I just listened to more music on 93.1, and hit the sack.  
  
I was asleep it felt like, for no more than a minute when I began to dream.  
  
And it was a very odd dream too.  
  
"Cassie? Rachel?" I asked. I was at the mall. At the department store I had been in just hours ago looking for clothes with them. It was real. It was so real. I looked out the sky window, it was night. I looked down the way, I saw Jake, Marco and Tobias. I had a very bad feeling.  
  
"Oh shit," I muttered.  
  
"What is it? What's wrong?" Cassie asked rushing over to me.  
  
"Nothing, uh, Cassie, you believe in aliens?"  
  
"What? Aliens? No, of course not."  
  
"Not after tonight."  
  
"What the heck? Lisa, what are you talking about?" It was Rachel.  
  
I was back before the Animorphs learned of the invasion. I was at the mall as they all met up and went home with them that fateful night. I was with them. I was there. Suddenly, I did feel sick. It was real. It couldn't be, but something in my heart told me that it was real. I was actually there.  
  
And I was going to get my chance to kick Yeerk butt.  
  
"Hey Jake!" I waved him down and put on a huge smile.  
  
Cassie quickly asked Rachel how she looked, then turned and smiled at Jake as well.  
  
"Are you guys walking home through the construction site alone? Did you want us to walk you, you know, with you being girls and all?" Jake asked.  
  
"Jake, you need to work on your pick up lines," I laughed. "If you wanted to ask Cassie out, you should have just said so."  
  
Cassie and Jake looked at me. Marco, Rachel, and Tobias were on the verge of laughter.  
  
"Come on you guys, let's go!" I beckoned them to follow me to the exit. "I have a date!"  
  
We walked across the street. Elfangor's fighter landed in front of us, and Elfangor told us everything. About the Yeerks, about the Andalites, and he gave us the morphing power.  
  
Now Cassie believed in aliens.  
  
We watched as Visser Three ate Elfangor, and then chased us. I was there as I watched Cassie morph for the first time. I was there when we discovered that controllers were everywhere.  
  
Well, at least I would, in my sleep. We still hadn't crossed the sidewalk to the construction site yet.  
  
But that was for another night.  
  
I woke up.  
  
Sun shone on my face. I looked over to see Laura sleeping peacefully in her bed. She probably wasn't even having any bad dreams, or going back to alternate universes yet. I went downstairs to get some breakfast. I was still disturbed from the dream. So, I got another shower, and listened to more music.  
  
The phone rang.  
  
It was Courtney.  
  
"Want to see a movie?" She asked.  
  
"What movie?"  
  
"The Two Towers?"  
  
"And what is the point in seeing that?" I forced a laugh. No need to get her suspicious about if I was keeping anything from her.  
  
"Just to laugh at it," came in the answer.  
  
No, I didn't want to see a movie.  
  
I just wanted to cry.  
  
I was in way over my head.  
  
"Sure," I replied cheerfully, "let's go!"  
  
"Okay, see tonight, around seven," Courtney informed me.  
  
"Gotcha, I'll be sure to tell Laura, bye!"  
  
"Bye!"  
  
I ran to Laura, she was back on the Internet, talking to Steve. Man, she needed a life.  
  
"Laura we're going to the movies to see the Two Towers tonight around seven," I announced to her.  
  
"And the point in going is.?" She questioned not looking up from the screen. Then laughed at something Steve said.  
  
"Just to go, to do something, you know, normal," I said.  
  
"Well." There was a pause of reluctance, "okay, fine."  
  
"Laura, look at me."  
  
She did look up at me, but not before typing a very long message to Steve. "Yeah, what is it?"  
  
"Let's never ever do that again," I said steadily.  
  
"Say it again for good measures," She instructed.  
  
Her speech rang in my head again. This time, the entire thing.  
  
"Look, in Lothlorien, you told me to just deal. I didn't want to go home because of psychopaths, and I like Middle Earth too much. You told me that you and Courtney still needed me. I dealt. Now I'm telling you the same thing. Just because you like it here doesn't mean that you abandon us. We need you to be funny. We need the humor in the darkest hour, to let us know that everything's going to be ok. Just deal."  
  
I smiled.  
  
These guys were my family. I needed them, and they needed me. We were going to get each other through whatever hell we entered, ever in our lives.  
  
And in the end, no matter what happened, I knew that they were going to be there for me.  
  
"Let's never ever do that again," I repeated with a smile.  
  
A/N~ The end. But hang on, I have some finally stuff to post. A final note from me and a Theatrical Trailer for if this was ever made into a movie! 


	12. Trailer

Animorphs Altered ~ Theatrical Trailer  
  
(Black screen with golden words being read by a narrator.)  
  
Narrator: Based on the best selling series Animorphs, (flashes to another black screen with more words) comes the next part in the thrilling Altered Movie Trilogy.  
  
(Flashes to Lisa.)  
  
Lisa: I think Animorphs really happened!  
  
(Back to black screen, no words, with narrator's voice.)  
  
Narrator: This August, the past is doomed to repeat itself.  
  
(Goes to Laura.)  
  
Laura: You did not just say that.  
  
(Camera pans over an average American town, then to the Animorphs at the food court.)  
  
Narrator: A group of five ordinary kids with an alien friend, using the morphing power (goes to Cassie morphing wolf, then Marco to gorilla), who fight to save Earth are about to get some help.  
  
(Flashes to Courtney, Laura, and Lisa walking to Cassie's house, then Cassie opening the door.)  
  
Laura: Hi!  
  
Lisa: (In barn) We know who you are.  
  
Courtney: (Later in the Barn) Ew, ew, ew, gross, gross, gross.  
  
(Camera goes to Hork Bajir/Hork Bajir home world.)  
  
Narrator: Now, trouble is found everywhere. And death will come whether they find it.or it finds them.  
  
*Fast action sequence. Fast music, quick camera shots* (Camera goes to Arn in the valley, then the Lisa and the lion scene. Then quickly to the three surrounded by Hork Bajir in the Valley, and lastly the battle on the Hork Bajir home world.)  
  
(All stops. Silence. Black screen.)  
  
(Go to Hork Bajir face with Lisa's face over shadowing it.)  
  
Lisa: Laura!  
  
(Black screen, with words popping up.)  
  
ANIMORPHS ALTERED.  
  
THE TRILOGY CONTINUES. 


	13. End Note

Disclaimer: I should have done this before. I don't own anything that has to deal with ANIMORPHS. Just Lisa, Courtney, and Laura, and of course the idea. Hope you enjoyed it.  
The story has come to an end. I know it's kind of dumb, but I really am going to miss posting the chapters and reading the reviews. I wrote this story in like two weeks, but I posted it over a long period of time, because I wasn't sure how the readers on FanFic would accept it. But I'm glad you did like it. I guess the only thing left to do now, is to tell your friends about this story, and have them read it. I would like to keep it alive, and show the world how much Animorphs means to me, and how much it had an impact on my life. For one thing, it made me crazy enough to write a story about being sucked into an alternate universe! So, you know, there's only two things left to do.  
  
"Thank you. Thank you for everything," Lisa thanked gratefully.  
  
Laura and Courtney laughed, clearly amused by the entire thing. Laura said, "Lisa, you know, you're such a dork. The story wasn't THAT big. That, and, the fact that this isn't the Academy Awards!"  
  
What? Grrr, count on them to ruin this big moment. There's just one last thing to tell the readers. I am announcing that Laura has posted the first couple chapters to the prequal to this story, entitled: Lord of the Rings: Altered, by Twilight Gurl. You read that, please, you review it, and just remember.  
  
.In a month or two, Harry Potter: Altered will be coming, and Lord only knows what the hell we can screw up there.  
GOODBYE, FAREWELL, SO LONG.WE'LL BE BACK! 


	14. Hi again! I'm back!

Okay, it's been awhile since you last saw this up here, and you're wondering why the hell it is, but it's to advertise the new story "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: ALTERED" by Sword maiden! Here's a glimpse into the first chapter:  
  
Where to begin? It was raining, it was dark, it was cold, and we were all at the movie theater to spend our last day in a three-day weekend pleasantly. By we I mean Lisa, Laura and me. We were seeing The Two Towers, again. The only difference was we had seen it live since the last time. Let me explain for those of you who are just jumping into our story.  
  
Two days ago we were all sucked into an alternate universe. Yes, you read write, sucked into an alternate universe. The universe just so happened to be The Lord of the Rings. Suddenly we had gone from being bookworms to book-victims. Anyway, after we got home we found out that a month in the book was only a minute at home. Thankful, we finally got to rest hoping that nothing like that would ever happen again. Unfortunately, the next day, we were sucked into Animorphs, book #34, The Prophecy. It should be called Hell, if you ask me, because that's what it was. Touching flies to "acquire their DNA", climbing trees that tower thousands of feet over the fiery core of some foreign alien planet, falling from those trees to our death. Sorry, that was just me, and you read right, again.  
  
Falling to my death.  
  
You see, in order to get home, we had to die. Suicide, however, was out of the question. You commit suicide, you're done for. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  
  
Now then, where was I? Oh yes, we were at the movie theater seeing The Two Towers. The show didn't start for another ten minutes, so we were sitting in the theater with no more than fifteen other people, we had the best seats in the house, and we were bored out of our minds. We had gotten popcorn for one reason and one reason only: To throw at people. After you've had the experience of going for two and a half, nearly three, days without eating your stomach kind of, well, shrinks. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true, and a three-hour movie is a piece of cake to get through without food. So, we were sitting and talking, refraining from reminiscing, and becoming more and more bored. I, for one, was anxious to see the movie. Unlike the other two, who constantly said how glad they were we were home, I rather missed Middle Earth. I wanted to see Helm's Deep, a major battle that I am proud to say I fought in and, amazingly, lived through.  
  
By now, for those of you who aren't jumping in, you should know who I am. For those of you who are jumping in, my name is Courtney Tutshill. I have a sword that has seen more battles than you can count on one hand and more scars than you will ever have in a lifetime. My mouth is quicker than my brain, and my ears are better than my eyes. I've made friends with warriors, elves, dwarves, aliens, and, of course, teenagers like myself. I would mention a wizard, Gandalf to be exact, but I don't know that he was my friend. More an ally, but I knew him all the same.  
  
Now then, as you can tell I'm the narrator of this story. Laura told the first one, Lisa got the second one, and I get this one. There's perfect logic behind the decision of narration, and when you figure it out, would you let me know what it is? Anyway, on with the story.  
  
Being bored with no movie on the screen is not exactly a sign for good things to come. Throw talking in there and you have a disaster on your hands, especially when you take into consideration who's talking: Lisa. For those of you who don't know who Lisa is or what she's like or, in fact, the full history behind our getting sucked into alternate universes you can't realize the danger of this situation to the full effect.  
  
By this time Laura and I had tuned her out and taken up a conversation between ourselves. Quite suddenly, however, we heard those infamous words, "I think..." and tuned Lisa back in just in time to hear, "Really happened!"  
  
And BOOM!, no more theater, no more comfortable seats, no more popcorn. Okay, maybe it wasn't a BOOM. Basically, the world dimmed down. All of the dull colors began to swirl together creating what seemed to be a very bad finger painting. We all grabbed onto each other as the wind picked up around us. Faster and faster it got and it felt like we were in a miniature tornado. I shut my eyes to stop the wind from stinging them. It felt like forever we were in that tornado, spinning around and around. Then, the wind stopped as abruptly as it had begun, and I opened my eyes. We were in darkness, darkness so pure that if we had of had the nerve to move we wouldn't have been able to see our hand in front of our face. There was no sound around us, just dreadful silence. All we could hear was our ragged breath and pounding hearts. And then, as soon as it had started, colors came back into the world, a regulated wind began. It was all over.  
  
And we were really far from home.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Read on fellow ALTERED fans! READ ON!  
  
~lisa~Courtney~Laura~ 


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